Lemonade
by Bakunawa
Summary: When life throws you lemon, what do you do? Unfortunately for one Uchiha Sasuke, the Legendary Rogue of Konohagakure, he got three. futurish AU
1. Twist One

Disclaimer: The writer does not own _Naruto_ or any characters from the series. Kishimoto-dono has property rights over that. She- the writer- however, takes ownership of the of the story plot and any original character in this Fanfiction article.

Enjoy! (C:)

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**LEMON****ADE**

Twist One

By: _Bakunawa_

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"Nervous?"

To say that Akimichi Momo was nervous was an understatement. She was very _very_ nervous! It was the type of anxiousness that had this lazy, twisting, gnawing feeling in the pit of one's stomach that had gone for days, weeks even, since the announcement of the genin exams and had slowly build up to the point that she could almost faint with the anticipation.

When that the exam proper was over, the anxiety alleviated. She had passed, after so much hard work, she was almost genin. And that alone had sent her to a dreamlike state of euphoria, one that made her want to jump so high she'd almost believe she would soar in the heavens.

But the happiness had only been for a very short while. Now she was back in the Academy in her old classroom—probably for the very last time—waiting for their designated jounin instructor and the anxiety was building up again. She feared she might become too nauseous to stand up if it ever got to that point… but not yet.

It was so unnerving. The waiting, that is. She had began fidgeting with her tight ponytails, walking back and forth across the almost empty classroom and memorizing the correct sequences of hand-seals for a jutsu under her breath all at the same time just to ease up the tension inside.

_They should have made classrooms wider_, she had thought, because she was already making indented tracks on the floor with her pacing. She had never felt like this before—the anticipation coupled with slight irritation since their instructor has yet to show his face.

And all of this had not gone unnoticed by another person waiting as well.

She turned to meet her teammate's gaze. Nervous, he had said. If only _just_ nervous. "Like you aren't?" Momo sneered.

Hajime shrugged one shoulder and shifted his attention back to his hitai-ate. He had been polishing it with his sleeve for the past hour they have been waiting.

No, Momo wasn't the only one restless. She smirked at the thought and continued her pacing.

Why? Firstly, she only had a few hours of sleep last night because she got too excited with today's team sorting. Secondly, because she overslept, she ended up coming halfway through the placement of teams and each of their members. Iruka-sensei then suddenly said that she had been excluded from the list because of her tardiness.

That had caused her chest to tighten and breathing difficult. She was only ever late this once!

It had been just a tease of course but who wouldn't have a panic attack when—after all the late nights burning your eyebrows off on textbook pages, all the fractured bones from training, and all the ryo spent for prayers at the local shrine—all the hard work just to pass the tests, your teacher tells you're not included on the list anymore with a dead-serious, very-believable face, huh? Huh?

(… Cricket chirp…)

But then, they were ninjas; you're expected to expect the unexpected… and keep your cool.

Momo sighed, brushing her strawberry-red hair. She also just realized that, in her haste, she had worn fishnet hose with her asymmetrical peach-colored tunic instead of her usual tight leggings. She was pretty sure she had washed and placed the leggings on her bedside table along with her other garments in preparation for today. How she made that mistake herself was beyond her. Now she felt all breezy with the skimpy crisscross article; not that she felt shy with it, just that stretchable leggings were more practical for her taste.

She looked over at her teammate again. Her _only_ teammate. Iruka-sensei did not even explain why it was so and then told them to wait for their jounin-sensei. Who in the history of shinobi has only one teammate in a four-man cell group, other than their jounin-sensei? And where in the world was their instructor anyway?

Her teammate had stopped fiddling with his hitai-ate and replaced it on his forehead. He now sat quietly, leaning over the desk with his head resting on one propped fist. Hajime's appearance was never remarkable. He had thick dark brown hair and coal-hued eyes. He was taller than her and most in their class. He was a bit pale—though everybody else compared to tawny-skinned Momo were of fairer complexion. But Hajime was very plain to the sight to say the least, put him in a crowd and you might never notice him. Even the new olive-green bomber jacket he wore didn't help. .

However, as she looked at him bearing the Konoha sigil, her trepidations came back twofold.

Momo consciously touched her own forehead-protector tied to her head. She was still adjusting to the new weight of the metal piece, both literal and figurative. Just this simple band of metal and cloth meant so much. It was an emblem, their signature. They were shinobi of the Village Hidden in Leaf now. They weren't children anymore; they were soldiers. Why was she thinking of her physical vanity when there were more important things to be worried about? They will be leaving the protective confines of the academy to venture the outside. From here on, things won't be simulated like during their practice hours at the training grounds; things will be uncontrolled and unsupervised.

Real risks.

Real enemies.

Real battles.

All of them, the graduates, knew this. The academy instructors made it a point to integrate in every student's mind the needed precautions and hone their skills to survive. But in the end, it was truly up to them to lift a weapon or a fist and fight for what they should protect: Konohagakure. They made their allegiance to the village and with that there are responsibilities, duties to be fulfilled and they could die for it.

There's no turning back from this point on. Even at these times of peace, you could never know if the next day would be your last. It was just the ninja's way of life and their lives were, in most cases, very short-lived.

They were genin now, although only by half and the truth still bites that they still had to be accepted by a jounin commander to be full-fledged genin ninjas. And she wanted to be. Badly. It was her personal oath to become shinobi.

The sickening feeling in her stomach only worsened. What if she won't make it? What if the jounin won't accept them? What if she fails? What if this was all just a dream, a thoroughly long, unreal dream and that she was still asleep in her bed? She had considered these for countless of times already, save the last part, but now that she was here, waiting for the moment the heaven would finally grant her prayers, she felt discouraged…

Momo inwardly shook her self, chiding herself for her lack of faith in her own abilities. This was not time to lurk into depressing thoughts. She had to think positive because grumbling to herself would only lower her esteem. She knew her capabilities and what she could do with them. _I can do this!_ she told herself.

She looked at the boy again and thought of how to work effectively with him. Although, she had so little interaction with the silent boy to say how good he was. To say the least, she had known him to just belong to the average-above average score bracket for every course they underwent in the Academy. If she remembered quite well, he might have just ranked second or maybe third in the recent genin written exams and sixth or so in the practical tests—just a few notch above Momo herself. So where would that lead them?

Momo opted that they just have to work really hard as a team to get by of this, even if it was just the two of them.

_If only Yuri and I were paired_, Momo mused,_ it would have been better._ But her best friend had already gone with her own team, following a beautiful pearly-eyed sensei. _Damn, she got a Hyuuga! I heard they're pretty powerful clan. Being under one would have to be an honor already. Whoever I got better be good… but where the hell is he?_

The door suddenly slid open. Momo's heart almost missed a beat, stopping her from her running thoughts and tramping feet. A tall jounin, wearing a very long scarf that was dragged along the floor, came in. The Akimichi girl felt her whole insides almost vanish. _This is it…_

The jounin looked at the remaining graduates in the room. "Team five?" he called, rubbing his face sluggishly. He was clearly sporting a hangover.

Momo released the breath that she involuntarily held with great disappointment. The group huddled in one corner piped up and made a beeline for the man.

"Eh… all girls, huh?" the jounin said sheepishly, now rubbing the back of his neck.

"Is there a problem _sensei_?" one chirped, annoyance well conveyed.

"Nothing… come on then _team_," the jounin pushed the door wider and gestured for his students to exit, "ladies first."

And so, only two remained.

"I think our sensei ditched us," Momo claimed dryly.

"Hn," was the only response she got. But Hajime's brows were furrowed with his own silent aggravation.

"I can't believe this!" she threw her arms up, frustrated, "This is so… so, urgh!"

The redhead girl propped on top of the desk next to the brown-haired boy and crossed her arms. "How long is he going to let us wait? Whoever this person is, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind. He's probably some lowlife jounin who so recently been promoted because he had to escape the village to deal with his own… vendetta," she waved a vague gesture to the air and continued, "then train with a crazy old men, kill people who pissed him off and then wonder the world to find true enlightenment."

Hajime looked at her with a quizzical brow lifted up. "How do you even know the jounin's a _he_?" he asked slowly.

"Because only lowlife _men_ could make anyone wait _this_ long. Look at that guy just now…" she hitched her thumb to the direction of the door, "now think of another person twice as idiotic as him."

--

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Village Hidden in Leaf, a raven-haired man sneezed. Twice.

--

"You know, you have a very wild imagination…" Hajime said drawlingly, looking the other way, "and your logic is downright ridiculous."

Violet eyes grew wide with shock then narrowed to fix the young man a glare. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, making incoherent indignant sounds. "Why you—" she finally managed to say.

"If you going have a hissy fit, I suggest you stop right now. It won't be helpful."

"Then what _do you_ suggest I do? Huh? You're just frustrated as I am," Momo scoffed.

"You could shut up for starters," he said it with a dragging voice.

"Are you picking a fight with me?" the redhead hissed, standing up with her fist drawn forward, "'Coz you can bring it on."

"Not interested."

"I'm starting to not like you."

"…n'yeah."

"You're… you're irritating!" She spat through gritted teeth, almost lost for words with her rage brimming over.

The boy snorted, still not looking at her. "Tell me about it."

"I should have known you'd such an insufferable ass!" She was had closed the narrow space between them. Now only the wooden table separated her from the sharp-tongued lad but would not enough to prevent her from doing him harm.

"Strong words." he shrugged, looking entirely uninterested contrary to his provoking comebacks.

"Bastard!" Hands slammed down, causing the boy to straighten up on his seat.

"Maybe I am…"

"Let's take this outside! Or do you want to die right here? Right now?"

"For what?"

"You son of—"

"You fight like my parents." That wasn't Momo getting back at him. The voice was smaller and mellower and it came from the direction of the windows.

A little girl with short stark-white hair was perched like a cat on the open windowsill. Hajime had to blink twice to make sure that it was indeed a little girl and not a minute old lady. He had been living in this ninja village for quite a while now but they still gave him surprises. This particularly cute girl, he was sure a ninja or at least trained to be one, was not even trying to be inconspicuous with the bright purple vest she wore with matching purple elbow-length fingerless gloves and sandals. She was also wearing a yellow-colored medical mask printed with red swirls hooked to each ear. But how did she come all the way up here, through the window no less, and without anyone noticing?

"And who're you?" Momo asked, stepping back from the dark-haired boy, "Shouldn't you be in class, kid?"

The little snowy-haired girl hopped down from the sill and approached the pair. Sleepy eyes eyed them; first Momo then Hajime. "Team nine, ne?" she asked with a soft voice.

"Yeah. How d'you know?" Momo returned the look intensely. She was still pissed and this newcomer would not escape her spite.

"Follow me." She went straight for the door without looking back if they were following her or not.

--

"Why don't you just pass this one and get it over with?" the Fire Shadow suggested, though his tone indicated he already knew what the other might say.

"I don't want to bother myself with the untalented," the other man spoke dryly, remaining unmoved from his lotus sitting position on top of a flat rock.

"The longer it takes you to choose a team, the longer you'll stay in probation…" the Hokage, with a singsong voice, couldn't help but indicate the other's obvious frustrations. He was clearly trying to push his luck with his stoic counter part. "You're just being too picky, aren't ya? You know, this is just for formalities to get you back into the mission roster. Permanently. And to quiet down those council crows," he added the last sentence grimly.

"As long as they keep their end of the deal, there won't be any problem," the Dark Legend said, his casual air betraying his words, "whether they trust me or not."

"Of course, they will," the kage said with all seriousness. "And may I remind you who is _Hokage_?" the strongest shinobi pointed to himself, "I still have the final say in things. Believe it!"

_Right… the All Great Hokage Naruto. _ If he had been _half_ the greatness he so dubbed himself, then the stoic man wouldn't _be_ in this ridiculous situation. But the raven-haired man kept the thought to himself. The Dobe was pestering him once again and knowing Naruto, making a comeback would only indulge blonde's senseless compulsion to spat with him every chance available.

The stoic man would have to tolerate waiting under the pleasant shade of an ancient umbrella tree with this _nuisance_ sitting next to him.

--

A caricature of a face on a yellow circle was mocking her. The thin frowning lips were really asking to be wiped out and those rolling eyes, they should be skewered out and barbequed. Akimichi Momo was being put off by an absurd logo on the back of the white-haired girl's purple vest.

Okay, so the henohenomoheji wasn't doing anything but she had to look at it for the past thirty minutes or so while following its bearer all throughout Konoha.

Hotaru, as the girl called herself, had been leading them around the bustling wet marketplace, through the topsy-turvy housing districts and now the training grounds, skipping her way and humming unfamiliar songs.

Momo gave a sideway glance to her partner as he walked beside her. She now loathed the smart-tongued boy and she refused to speak to him since their little banter earlier that morning. Hajime had been indifferently quiet the entire time as well. But that had to be his nature probably. He had also been eyeing the little girl with the same silent irritation as Momo was.

The boy felt her lingering gaze and shot a fleeting look to her way as well. The girl flinched and snapped her eyes forward guiltily.

"What's on your mind?" the boy asked calmly even. She did not hear any hint of malice in his voice or a mock for catching her ogling him. The question was uttered at face value. It goaded her even more.

Exhaling appreciably her frustrations, she did not answer right away. "I think, this could be a prank," she quietly said what she had been thinking earlier.

"Hm…" the boy hummed with a quirk of the eyebrow. Whether indicating her to explain or if he already thought of it himself, Momo could not guess. This only added to her growing Why-I-So-Hate-This-Guy list.

"Sure she told us she was sent by our sensei but is she for real? I think this kid is toying with us."

"Hotaru-san, where are we going _exactly_?" the dark-haired boy called to the younger girl.

The light-haired girl stopped and turned to them. Green eyes widen as if she had just saw them. "Oh! You're here? You… you were following me all along?" She sounded so honestly bewildered.

"What the-?!" Momo showed her exasperation, "you mean to say that you haven't been aware we were behind you all this time?!"

"Uhh…"

"You little… You told us to follow you!" Momo was growing red on the face. Hajime just sighed.

Hotaru's eyes creased, indicating that she was smiling under that mask, and began rubbing the back of her head. "Sorry, nee-chan, of course I knew you were following me. My mind must have just… wandered off. I forgot we were supposed to head, uhm…uh?" She looked around. Not far was a screen fence with a metal plate saying 'Training Ground 4' in bold characters. "Oh lookie, we're here already!"

The little girl made a jog for the entrance.

Momo was left looking unconvinced. "What is up with this girl?" the cherry-haired genin muttered with her brows furrowed before following the younger girl once again, Hajime close behind.

--

"Hey, look on the bright side," Naruto grinned, "This way you'll have practice on child-rearing. When you have your own bundles of joy, it'll just be a breeze!"

"C_hild-rearing_?" Sasuke repeated, "Dobe, these graduates are more or less preteens."

"Eh, that's not what I meant. I mean, they're still children, right? Same thing," the blonde shrugged, "teaching is like raising kids already. Teaching jutsus would be like teaching babies how to walk and talk and stuff. Requires a lot of patience and effort _from you_. I'm telling you this because I know so, dattebayo."

"How so?" the Uchiha snorted, unbelieving. How ever did he come to _that_ analogy?

"I…" the blue-eyed jinchuuriki raised a finger up, "happened to have firsthand experiences on babysitting _with_ an actual baby. And handling Sakura-chan's genin squad while she took a week-long mission that one time was like taking care of three wild Tonton-pigs. Both equally worn me out. And did you know Kiba's brat of a brother bites? Believe it!"

The Hokage sighed, scratching an itch behind his left earlobe, the same ear the young Inuzuka almost ate all those years ago. "When are you having kids anyway? I really thought by the time you've reach twenty, you'd have at least five little Sasuke-brats tagging along. You've been doing… _the deed_, right?"

"… You have no business with what I do," the Uchiha spoke surprisingly calmly, remembering that tranquility of mind and body brings peace to the broken soul. And that the only weapon he had against the menace that was Uzumaki Naruto was keeping his head straight.

"Aw, come on… hadn't you mentioned something about 'reviving the Uchiha Clan' a long time ago? And from what I've heard from Ino-chan, somebody has been coming in and out of your apartment very recently…" he allowed his words to trail off.

"I am not having any relationship brunette, female or otherwise," Sasuke answered point blank, keeping it straight.

"Ha! See! You you've just admi—wait, what do you mean by otherwise?" The blonde paused, blue eyes squinting in his confusion.

Sasuke sighed, pinching his temple in aggravation. "I already _had_ this useless conversation with Sakura." Only yesterday, in fact, when she _so happened_ to be innocently passing by the neighborhood with a bag of peachy dumplings and a sweet excuse to share a quiet afternoon with an old friend.

"Oh." Naruto huffed, crossing his arms. What was he so disappointed about? The Last Uchiha rolled his eyes behind dark sunglasses. Trust Naruto to shift the conversation from one point to another and end it with something so pointless.

"So you really aren'—"

"Since when have you been such a gossip, Naruto?" Sasuke cut him off. The Jinchuuriki was worse than Sakura making little attempts to pry his mouth open for the exact same issue.

Naruto held his hands up, "Hey, when you're sitting next to Konoha's queen of talk every other afternoon, you can't help but hear what everybody else is up to, dattebayo."

Sasuke resisted the urge to give out a grunt; again reminding himself about the wonderful benefits of meditation… well, what was left of his afternoon session anyway. Any minute now, he was going to meet three freshly graduated academy students and here was a dobe—Hokage or not, Naruto was still a dobe to him—sitting beside him. How wonderful…

He really had much better things to do with his day. Lulling Naruto to spar with him would have been the usual. Or loom over the Hokage tower, haunting the clerics for any solo S-class missions sitting somewhere under Naruto's stack of neglected scrolls. Or maybe ramen…

Shit, had he really sank so low? He sorely needed a hobby; the Dobe was rubbing off on him. Everything he did had something to do with or influenced by Uzumaki Naruto.

And it was a little too creepy.

But what else could he do? The name Uchiha Sasuke wasn't so welcoming anymore.

The reason why he had been able to come back—why Sasuke had _ever_ chose to come back—had been for Naruto and he had to admit that the idiot could move mountains and calm storms, both figuratively and literally. But ultimately, as powerful as Uzumaki Naruto appeared to be, the title Hokage did not hold all the control.

Sasuke knew the majority of Konoha still viewed him as a traitor and a threat. He saw the scornful leering, heard the derogatory calling of his name, they had been petty enough as to leave his doorstep littered with animal manure and there had been some who went as far as to burn the actual house. Trying to keep a low-profile and appearing docile when everybody wanted to strangle him at sight had almost driven him to defect again. Although, he would confess that he wasn't really trying that much to make amends, he was being sincere enough. Only it was those people who were making it hard on him.

Work for him had been rigidly held back too. The village's Council of Elders and Heads of Clan had all but hampered every mission scroll he might possible receive, giving him the worst if not the most menial of tasks. Unless the Hokage personally hand it over to Sasuke, he wasn't getting any worth of his skills' caliber.

It left the Uchiha restrained and limited to move about, keeping mostly to him self—though that was nothing new—and bored to death.

Konoha and her politics… things never change.

But Naruto was persistently hopeful, saying that the people just needed some getting used to and things would eventually work out—he's own way of sugarcoating it rather than saying: 'buddy, I've been through that shit and believe me, you're in for the long haul before anyone starts throwing you a birthday bash.' Sasuke only knew him too well. Naruto was hell bent on properly realigning him with Konohagakure; even more than what Sasuke felt necessary.

And what better way to show the world the Uchiha Sasuke—defector of Konoha, apprentice of the mad Orochimaru and the Legendary Rogue—was a good guy than letting him take up three scrawny brats to teach the art of nin?

The idea was out-and-out ridiculous. Him? Teach? He'd soon have any child perfect the silent art of brooding than anything else. And he had expressed his dislike of the proposal very clearly to Naruto. Even the Council had had to agree with Sasuke. And they all hated him!

He knew they were suspicious that he would somehow exploit any youngster into turning against the village or something similar to that notion. And they just might be right for the point that he despised each one of them.

But Naruto was adamant; he eventually convinced him and the elders in to agreeing. A feat that involved a lot of persuasion, reminding of relative positions and a few threats. It was the first time Sasuke had ever seen the Dobe so single-mindedly yet shrewdly tackle a goal as absurd as _him teaching genin_ across the proverbial political table.

"You know Sasuke," Naruto's voice was suspiciously high, "I, uh, you know you had your moments sometimes, but I also heard something about a _ferret_… Any chance it might be true?"

The dark shinobi's head snapped so quick the sound barrier broke. The thought of 'Naruto' with 'wisdom and maturity' on the same line was instantly chucked out.

--

Hotaru abruptly halted and held up her hand for the others to do the same.

"Something's wrong here…" Hajime murmured, stopping beside the younger girl. Momo had jogged a little further away.

"What?" the Akimichi looked at what the other two were staring at and gasped. She would not have noticed it but beyond the fence, a few feet away, was a little lifeless sparrow sprawled on the dirt. Momo only cringed. "So what of?" she asked.

"Look! There's a dead bird on the ground, you see there?" the younger girl pointed, making circular motions with her finger pointing at the dead bird.

"Yes, we see it already," Momo nodded her head with a questioning eyebrow.

"It's dead," the shorter girl repeated, gawking at her with those sleepy-looking eyes.

"Seriously, it's obvious we noticed." The redhead motioned to go ahead but the little one grabbed her sleeve.

"Yes, but the little birdie is dead. _Near the fence_."

"Yes, we know that now!" Momo barely held her voice. Was it just her or little Hotaru's receptive communicating skills are a little slow?

"I think what Hotaru-san is trying to say is that there is something odd going on," the only boy in the group said.

Momo turned to him, looking at him as if he had dropped his senses somewhere too. "What's so _odd_ about a dead bird? Birds die all the time."

"Yes, but look closely… its feathers are blackened as if they were burnt."

The redhead squinted her eyes as she looked back at the deceased fowl and gave a small "oh" of realization. "Really, it's just a dead bird," she added with a what's-the-big-deal look on her brows.

"Poor birdie gone dead…" murmured little Hotaru.

"It could be either a lightning or fire-based jutsu that killed it," Hajime stated, matter-of-factly.

"Wow, who made you the expert?" Momo said sarcastically.

"Or it could be some electric tags on the metal fence. We shouldn't go near it," added the masked purple ninja, rummaging through her kunai pouch and pulled a piece of blue clothe. "We should find Sasuke-sensei as soon as possible. I think the test begins now." She tied her hitai-ate around her neck.

(To be continued…)

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Author's Note:

My first multi-chaptered short-fic. Please don't hesitate to appraise—criticize as much as you all want. This initial upload, however, remains un-beta-read. I'm sure it's fairly obvious with all the grammatical errors, poor sentence structure and wrong choice of words. I have about five more chaps under the belt, so if any of you dear readers enjoyed this first chapter and are interested to beta for this and latter portions of the fic, please feel free to contact me. I really need a beta-reader.

Oh, don't forget to review, review, review!

-Bakunawa


	2. Twist Two

**LEMONADE**

Twist Two

By: _Bakunawa_

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Hotaru tied her hitai-ate around her neck. "We should find Sasuke-sensei as soon as possible," she said, "I think the test begins now."

The older girl, wearing a loose-fitted peach-colored tunic that had one sleeve long and the other missing, stood back to regard little Hotaru from top to bottom. "Hey, wait, you're a graduate too?" Akimichi Momo pointed, "What are you like … six? That can't be."

Offended slightly, droopy green eyes narrowed. "I'll be turning eleven this coming fall," she said, taking a deeper tone on her voice, "and I've been assigned for Team 9… your team."

"But Iruka-sensei didn't say anything about another member…"

"I think you were still busy overreacting to hear him properly," the charcoal-eyed boy interrupted, "Sensei did mentioned that another member wasn't from our class but will join us along with the arrival of our assigned jounin."

True, there was a moment of lapse hearing. She remembered Iruka-sensei saying, 'you're late, Akimichi Momo and by the Official Shinobi Team Assignment Guidelines, you are therefore excluded…' and the rest were muffled out by her shallow breathes and rampaging heart. Last thing she knew, she recalled sensei coming over and tried to cajole her.

"But she's ten—" Momo argued.

"What of it?" Hotaru shrugged, adjusting the hitai-ate on her neck. "There were ninjas who had been promoted to chunin even jounin level at a much younger age."

The redhead pierced her lips together and with her arms crossed. "It doesn't prove anything," she told Hotaru with a furrowed brow, "how come you've been accelerated? You're at least a year behind us."

"How should I know?" Hotaru quipped. Apparently she did not like being undermined for age.

Hajime, on the other hand, wouldn't say he had not been surprised when he heard Iruka-sensei announced—much to the entire classroom's intrigue—their third member was from the batch after theirs. Although, Hajime was curious more than anything. He had read about those impromptu promotions but those were around the times of war, where more elite soldiers were needed to lead in the combat zones. This Hotaru was either lying about her age or she could be a genius to graduate from the academy a year prior to the standard age.

Her case was odd and rare but surely not uncommon. Momo should have at least recalled a lecture of this from History classes for she wouldn't be reacting too much again.

"What do you mean: how should you know?" Momo cried, coming close to the younger girl's masked face, "you're the one in this predicament. Shouldn't you be at least aware as to _why_?"

Hotaru did not say anything but shrugged again, simply giving her an expression that could almost be annoyance.

"Like _duh,_" Momo continued on her rant, "people just can't get promoted all of a sudden. There's a process and everything—"

Hajime interrupted with a firm and loud cough. "Hotaru-san, if you really are a part of this team," he said, "and you seem to know more about what's happening, would you mind explaining this… _test_ to us?" he waved to the electrocuted animal. He had been very suspicious from the beginning but kept it to himself. Now, he wanted answers.

"Wait a minute… a test? What you talking about?" Momo's attention was instantly hooked just when she was about to make the other girl spill.

"Actually… I'm not really sure myself." Hotaru answered, self-consciously looking away and tugging her earlobe out of habit, "I only guessed it was, just now… uhm, you see, Sasuke-sensei didn't exactly tell me anything. He just told me to come get you at the Academy and bring you here. And, well, like you know I got a little sidetracked with the bookstore back there and when I was about to remember that I had to tell my Oka-san—"

"Just get to the point!" Momo hissed.

'well, anyway…" the blanche-haired child waved a dismissing hand to her previous thoughts, "like I said: I'm not all sure but…"

Two sets of eyes were looking expectantly, yet unconvinced, at her.

"Well, I just _think_ it's a test. I mean, what else could it be?" Hotaru gave.

"What test?" Momo was still out of the loop.

However, Hajime had an inkling of comprehension. "I see…" he said, "We should get going then."

"Wai—what?" Momo was completely perplexed with this predicament, looking from one to the other, "I don't get it. Who said anything about a test? We haven't even met our sensei yet."

The boy looked at her blankly. "It's a test," he said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"And you just figured this out by—what? Simply looking at a dead bird?"

"…pretty much."

Hajime walked over to the fence, only stopping about a foot away. He picked up a small rock from the ground and threw it on wire screen. It sparked and sizzled, confirming their assumptions.

"Okay, so it is definitely wired. But could you _kindly_ explain _why_?" Momo definitely hated being the only one clueless.

"Hm…" an annoyed sound escaped his lips, shoving his hands into his pockets. He looked over the fence, examining the earth from where the poles that supported the metal screen were plunged. The two girls followed closely as he walked along the wired barrier.

The fence was at least ten feet tall, stretching across to who-knows-how-long. If their soon-to-be sensei—Sasuke, as Hotaru mentioned his name earlier—placed electric tags, he would have to place them much nearer for the current to flow as strong as to kill a bird instantly. Tags could be easier to find but if he used some kind of jutsu that would be a different and difficult matter.

"He wants us to meet him for a trial," the boy said.

"Yeah, that's already common knowledge, thank you." Momo crossed her arms, irritated. Out of all the graduates, only those tried and approved by an elite jounin were allowed to officially ascend to genin rank.

"But isn't it a bit odd how this fence is wired when we know he's on the other side?" Hajime propounded.

"Are we even sure that he is?" Momo threw back, "For all we know, he could be waiting his butt off at Training Ground Forty-Four."

"Training Ground Four," Hotaru said with conviction, "I remember exactly where Sasuke-sensei told me to take you."

Akimichi snorted, "I doubt that…"

"Let's just think for a moment that he _is_ inside," Hajime went back.

"Like I said, we're not even sure." The redhead's voice raised a notch, threateningly.

"Then how would you explain the fence?"

"Somebody else could have done it."

"For what reason?"

"I-I don't know. To keep people out, maybe."

"Exactly. Now think of our jounin-sensei trying to keep us out of the training ground."

Momo stared at her teammate, lost in whatever he was trying to elucidate. "Where are you getting at?"

"It's a test…" the boy breathed out, gesturing to the metal barrier as if it would speak for itself, "and it's a trap. There may be more too. And basing on the time he made us wait, they might be complicated."

"Actually, he just woke up late," Hotaru piped from behind a tree that stood a yard or two away from the metal barrier. "He's not a good morning person. He's kinda scary…"

"You seem to know him personally?" Hajime eyed her cautiously.

"Sasuke-sensei? Not really. I just know where he lives. And that he likes to sleep in too."

"…"

"Funny, it sounds so ironic," came Momo's dry commment.

"So you really didn't know anything about this?" Hajime did not sound accusatory but trying to substantiate his suspicions or otherwise, prove them wrong.

"No," she shook her blanche head, "I'm as clueless as brownie-nee-chan there."

"Hey! What's with the nickname?" Momo glared at the shorter girl. She was sure that the younger girl was insinuating her auburn complexion. It was something that had always made her stood apart and Momo had been highly conscious of this. She was not so much as dark-skinned as a citizen of Kumo for example, but with the general populace being of the fairer-skinned—well, she gets teased a lot for having darker, tawnier pigmentation than everybody else.

"Then why did you take us all around Konoha instead of directly going here?" Hajime continued his interrogation, as if he was never interrupted.

"I really did slip my mind back then," the little girl tucking her hair again, "and I said I was sorry."

"See," Momo pointed an accusing finger at the other kunoichi, "Her words don't match up."

"It doesn't really matter…" Hajime was speaking more to himself, ignoring the other fuming beside him, "the point is that he left us oblivious. Set traps. And yet sent for us."

Momo pulled him by the arms closer, none too nicely. "What are you doing?" she hissed in his ear, "I told you this girl could be playing us and you're leading us straight into it."

"What else can we do?" Hajime whispered back, irritated, "Go back to the academy and wait again?"

No, she did not want that. She understood that, even though she did not trust Hotaru, taking action was better than waiting around, half expecting their teacher to come or not. The very least was to take the chance with the risk of ending up like fools.

And she wouldn't be alone in it anyway. She could even gloat 'I told you so' to the boy if it ever comes to it.

"Fine." Momo finally admitted, spitefully, after a moment of silent war of glowering between them, "but I still don't get how this stupid fence could be part of any test."

The lad sighed heavily. "Think like a shinobi would," he started again grudgingly, "we were taught how to attack using any means available to us—stealth and deception, fundamentally. We were taught to anticipate the enemy assault for they will deceive as we do and by that way, counterassault. If I were someone who'd be testing future shinobi, wouldn't I do just that—test them if they are qualified to _become_ shinobi?"

Hajime could practically see the wheels churning in her violet eyes, finally seeing things his way… or just considering his words at least. He never thought she could be so hardheaded.

"This Sasuke-sensei might have intentionally left us waiting for hours," the onyx-eyed boy continued, before she could open her mouth again to protest, "It's long enough to make us believe that he did not want to meet us. Then he sent Hotaru-san. He was stalling us and taking our guards off. Any other persons wouldn't have had the impression that they were already under examination. But as ninjas, we should have seen his motives were already evident."

He turned his head back to the direction of the tiny lifeless bird, darkened and scalded, partially hidden underneath the leaves of a bush. "If it weren't for that thing, we could have been ended the same."

The redhead pouted unconsciously. She did not want to confess it but her teammate was starting to make sense. She was bouncing from one thought of admiring the brown-haired boy and his quick deduction or kicking herself for not thinking about it first. And it wasn't that hard to understand the possibility the other had assumed but she was just being skeptical. It wouldn't harm if she was trying to look into things in another light, right?

Hotaru, in the meantime, watched and waited for her teammates. They were so huddled together in their heated discussion that it reminded her of her own parents' having a similarly long argument once over the dinner table. Although, it was about whether her dad should buy an overgrown Mr. Ukki a new pot or replant him outside, and of which suddenly led to getting their daughter's hair cut by next Wednesday. How it all went to that boggled her mind too.

"It's like the drills for tactics and infiltration then?" Momo's eyes then snapped up, surveying the surrounding in case a jounin was hiding somewhere in the vicinity.

"Exactly." Hajime agreed.

"But what if you're just over-analyzing this? What if this is just a mistake?" she looked at the boy, doubting again, "If we get caught trespassing—"

"Then why didn't they put up signs instead? Innocent people could really get hurt with this type of security. And if it's Hotaru your concern, she seems… genuinely honest enough."

"_Genuinely honest enough_?" Momo repeated, crossing her arms across her budding chest. "Weren't you the one to preach about anticipating the enemies?"

The boy looked to the side sheepishly. "I'm not underestimating her but I don't see anything she could take from pulling our legs. And didn't she warn us about the fence?"

"Which makes her even more suspicious."

"She hardly knows us. Wouldn't it be taking too far just for her childish games?"

Unwittingly, they turned there heads around to peer where the youngest member of Team Nine had gone to. Both flinched at the sight of her, looking like deer caught by the headlights, guilty and mortified. Little Hotaru was perched high above the tree and looking directly at them.

"Are you done yet?" she asked them, like a petulant child waiting for her parents.

"Um… yeah… sorry," the boy said sheepishly, not really meeting Hotaru in the eye.

She shrugged her shoulder. Had they really forgotten she was there? Not that she minded being left out of their conversation, only that they should have been more careful about whom they were talking about especially since that person was just be within hearing range. Such was Hotaru's life that when other people think that she was too absorbed on other things to listen and they were too caught up with themselves to make note that she was still there beside them, attentive and comprehending yet just physically unresponsive to the situation.

"I wasn't really listening," she said bluntly, "but nee-chan wasn't exactly discreet either."

Momo gasped, bringing her hand to her mouth as if to would have stopped her foot from lodging in her mouth. "y-you heard that," she could only laugh at herself awkwardly, waving the same hand sweepingly, "Don't mind that. It was a joke, really. I was in it over my head. And why are you calling me nee-chan? We're not really that far apart. I'm only about a year older than you."

Hotaru shrugged again. "Should we jump over the fence now?" she suggested instead. Was that hurt in her tone?

"Actually, I was thinking of setting this trap off," Hajime said with a happier note, looking over the path along the fence to his right then left.

"You know how to disable traps?" Hotaru asked.

"I—"

"But didn't you say that there could be more?" Momo suddenly cried, flailing her arms for emphasis, "What if—what if there's a trap within a trap? If you set it off… it might trigger another one, maybe a bomb! And lots of 'em! We'll be blown off to pieces and we'll never be a ninjas anymore! We'll live out our lives, if we survive that is, as cripples, invalids—"

"And you'll be bald?" Hotaru added. Momo grabbed her neatly tied ponytails at the word 'bald', as if they would suddenly disappear into thin air.

Hotaru only drew her fist to her face. The medical mask just hid everything, making it almost impossible to know if she was snickering behind it or just trying to hold a cough back.

Hajime loudly cleared his throat. "I think you were making too much out of this," the boy whispered, "You really don't have to overreact that way—"

"Ugh! Shut up!" the redhead stomped over to the tree. Utilizing chakra on the soles of her feet to stick to the trunk, Momo climb the tree without the use of her hands. Once seated on a higher branch, she looked down to see Hajime gawping at her. "W-what?" She felt suddenly uncomfortable, pulling the hem of her tunic down.

"How did you do that?" he asked slowly.

She gave him a quizzical look. "What are yo—ohhhh!" This was an unexpected revelation. "You still don't know how to use chakra… do you?" Momo's face slowly stretching to a grin, very amused of her teammate's chagrin.

--

A little distance away, hidden under the foliages, a little black cat with narrow sunglasses and his bright yellow amphibian partner were intently watching the children argue.

"She's wearing it!" the toad half-croaked, "She's wearing the wallet I gave her for her last birthday. You see? Isn't she cute?"

The cat raised a nonexistent eyebrow at the other's squealing behavior.

"I almost envy you now, you know. You should be glad you'd be teaching a very smart kid like her, Sasuke."

"I won't be unless I pass her," replied the cat, "… or any of them for that matter."

"Oh, come on! This is little Hotaru-chan were talking about. You clearly aren't spending much time with your godchild. Just wait 'til you see what she's got, dattebayo!"

"I can't wait to be awed," the sharingan-bearing cat said, deadpan.

To tell the truth, Sasuke had the very slightest good impression of the pallid child. She was, after all, the first to figure out that her team was already being assessed the moment they stepped into the vicinity. Sharp senses are a must trait for shinobi. Or perhaps having both jounin parents to train you should be an advantage.

On the other hand, Hajime displayed his critical analysis of the situation, even presuming that there were more traps to be cautious about; though truthfully, there weren't anymore. Usually, it only took one electric shock and all three graduates would be sent back to where they came from—or the hospital, more likely—but this squad was a lot more observant. The dead bird was just his little give-away.

Ninjas not only need powerful jutsu arsenals in the battlefield but also a keen eye for details, analytical thinking and an understanding of the enemy's motives. Hajime and Hotaru seemed to fill the bill. The Akimichi girl, however, he could say the least about her. She was too fickle and quarrelsome, delaying her team in the process.

--

Training Ground Four was very typical compared to other training grounds: a wide plane of grass and deep undergrowth and on the far side a dense zone of tall trees. But most importantly: it was empty save for three academy graduates, taking careful steps—in case of hidden 'bombs'—yet quick and efficient like real shinobi, in search for their jounin-sensei.

Hajime was actually expecting something to happen after they jumped off from the tree over to the other side of the fence… like an explosion. Akimichi must be rubbing off on him because if he was sorely considering her over-active paranoia-induced imagination a possibility. But so far, nothing had happened, so good.

The Akimichi girl, who took to the trees for better visual, had a little smirk taped to her lips ever since she discovered he still couldn't manipulate chakra. "You know," she yelled to the boy standing below, "I can teach you how to walk up trees! It's not really that hard if you concentrate enough. But for a beginner, I'd say it'll take you months before you could actually walk up a tree."

"That would be appreciated," replied Hajime evenly. Momo was really enjoying herself at his expense.

She jumped down from branch to branch until she dropped beside him with full intent to show off. "But I think I won't," she teased, "not now, anyway… well, maybe I should think about it first—or maybe not. You didn't say 'please, Momo-chan, could you teach me, pleeeease!"

A tick was starting to develop on his left eye. "We should focus on the task at hand," the boy said, his voice was slightly raised.

And it's almost lunchtime! They better find this Sasuke-sensei before they starve.

"Okay, okay," she agreed, still smirking. "I didn't see anything from up there. I think we should cover another area."

They were about to go on when they realized something was amiss. Like when you walk in a coffee shop for an afternoon of solitude with your favorite blend and pie but before you could sit down on your usual spot you remembered you left your wallet at home.

"Hotaru," Hajime said flatly.

"Great. She's _wandering off_ again," the redhead grumbled, "why am I not surprised? I keep telling you, something's up with that girl."

But they didn't have to look far. The snowy-haired little girl was found seated on top of a smooth rock, looking very forlorn.

"Hotaru-san, this isn't the time for idling." Hajime rebuked, albeit softly, "as far as we know, we could be under examination. Our sensei could be watching us right this moment. You should not have left the group."

"You were busy anyway," Hotaru reasoned, head hung.

"Still, it's not an excuse for you to wander about," Momo exclaimed, "Remember, only three genin teams are allowed to pass. And to do so, we should work as a team."

"You really fight like my parents, you know?" Hotaru said unexpectedly with a hushed almost defeated voice, "Oka-san would talk and talk and talk. Loudly. And Otou-san would usually just… sit there, giving his reason's, only to make Oka-san madder."

Where did _that_ came from all of a sudden?

"Hotaru-san," the boy was getting impatient, "this isn't the time fo—"

"And then there were noises," she cut him off, "…Banging noises."

Did that mean Hotaru came from a dysfunctional family? Momo suddenly felt a pang of sympathy towards the little girl. She could just imagine Hotaru's sad life by the way the younger girl's face just seemed crestfallen—though it must be just those half-closed eyes that gave the gloomy expression. And the allergy masked happened to cover most part of her face.

"They always do that when they think I'm not around to listen," the white-haired nin added, barely above a whisper.

"Jou-chan…" Momo said quietly. This was too personal. They only just met and the little girl was already opening her sorrows to them.

_Hajime and I must have triggered bad memories_, the red-haired girl thought, _it must have been really tough for her. Though my life hadn't been better, I learned to deal with it. Nothing good comes out when you're living hell inside a place you should be calling home. Does she even have friends to talk to? She must have been alone most of the time to be this depressed…_

"And then the next day, Oka-san would be all smiles again. She would be like… glowing," Hotaru suddenly perked up, looking at them with bright jade-colored eyes, "though a bit tired. Come to think of it, so would Otou-san. And they smell very funny too. Sometimes, they would sleep in until the afternoon and they won't let me in their room. And Otou-san would have these really strange bruises on his neck and—"

Hajime could only gape, looking dubiously at the ranting girl. But Momo, on the other hand, just have had to cut her off.

"Stop! Stop it!" Momo cried, trying to stop any mental images coming to mind. Not that she was really versed about that kind of stuff… that couples do… she was twelve for crying out loud! But she knew Hotaru wasn't talking about experiencing domestic violence at home; it was something else entirely and inappropriately.

--

In two separate places, one under the quiet solace of a teashop and the other on the open road to Tea Country, two loving parents sneezed at the same time. Unbeknownst to them were their adorable daughter's innocent little slip-ups… of certain things.

--

"We should be looking for our jounin now, shouldn't we?" Momo gave, speaking a little out of breath.

"Already know where he is," Hotaru declared, standing up.

"Where?" Hajime and Momo spoke in unison, looking at different directions.

"He said to meet him by this rock."

"Then where is he?!" the tawny girl did not hide her exasperation.

"He's gone." She made it sound so plain and obvious, like saying her hair was cut precisely an inch below her ears and that it was the color of snow.

"…"

"…"

"Y-yes, Hotaru-san." Hajime spoke, voice a little shivered, "I think we see he's not here." He had his face hidden behind his hand, the other on his hip and his shoulders were quivering as if he wanted to laugh out loud or cry for the uselessness of it all.

"No, really. This is the big rock he told me, under the big old umbrella tree," Hotaru explained again, held her arms out wide as if she could embrace the entire place, "See? Big rock. Umbrella tree. But no Sasuke-sensei. Nope, nada." She waved her hands around the space just to indicate that it was all just air and space.

"Are you sure it's _this_ rock under _this_ particular tree he told you about?"

"Of course. This is the only umbrella tree ever planted within a six and ¾ mile radius." She sounded so sure.

"Okay, so we wait for him here," Hajime sighed, rubbing his face.

"No, this is unacceptable!" Momo suddenly yelled, "He ditched us, I knew it! He totally stood us up! The scumbag, lowlife, good-for-nothing really ditched us! How did he ever become jounin in the first place?"

Hotaru winced at every word spoken.

"And here you were talking about some kind of test," the fuming redhead turned to the tall boy beside her, "what you were saying about him 'wanting to meet us', huh?"

Hajime was hushed up but his eyes were frantically darting here and there, anywhere but not at his teammates. How could he have gone wrong with his assumptions? He couldn't believe it himself. It nagged at him as much as Akimichi was doing at the moment. But he couldn't deter off his word either. "I-I'm very sure he does," he said, "but that doesn't mean he'd let himself be found that easily. He's jounin after all."

"Come off it!" Momo said, exasperated, "we're in the middle of nowhere! Nobody's here! Whoever this guy thinks he is… he's an irresponsible scumbag. I'm going to report this to the Hokage himself. And then we'll get another instructor while that damn jounin gets sacked. And then w-"

"Kids today," a deep voice interrupted wryly, "no faith whatsoever."

All three children turned to the source of the voice.

"… Uchiha-san!"

(to be continued...)

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Author's Notes:

Special thanks to Tia'RaHu for first to review. This reader inspired me to upload earlier than intended.

Reviews just fuel me so, guys, if you want this to continue, review, review, review! just a short, "good" would do with me. or perhaps you could site some errors--stuff that just don't bode with you too well--i am really very open to constructive criticisms.

Again, review me please!

-Bakunawa


	3. Twist Three

**LEMONADE**

Twist Three

By: _Bakunawa_

_

* * *

  
_

A raven-haired elite shinobi, clothed in blues and black, was sitting languidly on top of a tree—eyes covered by rayband, leaning back on the trunk with one leg dangling from the branch he sat on while the other bent towards him and his arms fell lazily on his stomach. He was a visage of a casual guy taking his afternoon nap but to the eyes of three youngsters, he was a judge seated on his high table looking down at them with both indifference and demanding authority.

"… Uchiha-san!" Hajime and Akimichi Momo spoke together then quickly looked at each other, surprised.

"You know him?" the boy and the girl chorused again, "… Yeah, so?"

A comic duo! The man would have laughed if he ever found it in him to be amused with such things.

"Guess that covers introductions," the jounin muttered to himself instead.

"Hey, it's our teacher! Konnichiwa, Sasuke-sensei!" Hotaru waved from her spot behind the two. This girl really had to point out the obvious or did she have severely delayed reaction time?

"Why didn't you tell us _the _Uchiha Sasuke was our jounin-sensei?" Momo turned to the younger girl, her voice high pitched as she flushed redder again, embarrassed.

Not only was she familiar with their sensei, whom she mistakenly described earlier as a worthless person and more, he also happened to be there and hear her name him with such colorful words. Why didn't the earth just crack open and devoured her whole at that very instant?

"You didn't ask for specifics," Hotaru answered, shrugging.

"That is so unbecoming of a ninja," the sharingan-master spoke with a dragging voice, "What is the academy teaching you these days? I should dismiss you right now, seeing that you don't even have the initiative to ask for the name of the person you were looking for."

"But sir—" Hajime tried to reason out but was caught without anything good. He was familiar with the Uchiha too.

"Y-y-you can't do that!" Akimichi stuttered in sudden panic. The prospect of rejection from the jounin had erased the embarrassment from her earlier blunder.

"Oh? Why so?"

"Because…" she looked to Hajime for support but found the boy rooted as well, "because… because we passed your test—the fence, we got over it…"

"That was just something to get rid of you."

"So it is a test!" it came out as a shriek of protest and quickly covered her mouth. The violet-eyed girl never thought her voice could get so high pitched. She was feeling another panic attack if this situation did not agree with her. She had to pass; she needed to be a shinobi like her life depended on it.

"I-I-I mean…" Momo said it slowly, clenching her hands and looking at the ground, "The purpose of it _is _to get rid of us if we couldn't get through it, right? But we did; we passed your test." She turned her sights to Hajime, looking for some form of support from her teammate. But he could only place a hand on her shoulder with a shake of his head.

"But—" Momo was just stubborn, however. She knew she wasn't making a good point but… just maybe she could sway the Uchiha to reconsider.

"I decide if you are qualified to become ninjas or not." the older shinobi said simply. His face was still impassive, his eyes hidden behind oblique sunglasses, but his voice was like low thunder—commanding, uncompromising and unwavering.

She could not fight against that.

This was it. The jounin did not want them… but for what? Because they hadn't thought of asking his name? Because they've taken to long to get to him? If anyone was to blame it was the midget standing next to her. Hotaru had known all along—the jounin's name, the time and place, the damn test… everything! They were simply following her lead. If she hadn't been playing around they would've gotten there sooner… It was unfair!

All hope was slowly draining from Momo. This moment was what she had been dreading… what she had feared of happening. It just can't be…

Slowly, the dark-haired man head turned to regard each child standing below him; all looked to the ground, defeated, as if somebody they knew died. Were they really thinking he had just failed them? The tawny Akimichi was silently simmering though, throwing heated glances at her teammates if they were to blame. The tall boy was fidgeting, clenching and unclenching his fist to his sides. And on the other hand, the smallest member was rubbing the ground with her soles.

Now he found their dismay amusing. Did they really think he had already rejected them? The youths tend to be so gullible; he found a chuckle escaping him.

"Now…" Sasuke punctuated, "on with the second part of the test."

The three graduates' faces looked up one by one, perplexed by his words, but before any of them could react in any form, the Uchiha had already performed a series of hand seals and drawn a blood tribute for a summoning.

Three snakes, as long as his leg and as thick as three of his fingers, appeared in a puff of smoke. One was completely bright lime green, the other was red and black striped and the last was blue with feathery outgrowths covering its head.

The youngsters gasped at the sight of the menacing snakes hissing and coiling themselves around the jounin's body. All the while, the summoner remained unfazed.

"Spiteful little things, aren't they?" Sasuke lifted his bandaged and leather-bounded arm, the blue slithering its way up to his ear. "And poisonous too," he added, causing a cringe from Hajime.

"W-what are you going to do with them?" Momo was ever the inquisitor.

"Three of you versus three of my summons, fair enough, don't you think? And the rules are simple: Do whatever it takes to dispose of all three," the Uchiha heir stated, "you fight or you flee, your choice, as long as you don't get bitten. Any questions?"

"Wa—wait a minute. Bitten? You want us to fight those things and not get bitten. But they're poisonous, aren't they?"

"You still have the option to back out."

Momo violet eyes widened. "… n-no," she answered quietly, peeved. No way was she backing out of this. She was going to be ninja… but still, those were dangerous snakes the Uchiha was playing with so casually. Couldn't he just have thought of another test?

"H-how poisonous are they?" croaked the smallest contingent of the team.

"It depends on the species," Sasuke-sensei answered, "Each poison is different from the other. Though the last person I used one of them against sliced his own arm off… and not because he was bitten there."

Hotaru paled if she could be anymore paler.

"How will this test end?" the only boy asked his well-calculated query.

"Until all three are disposed of, which I highly doubt you could pull off," he added with an evil smirk, "…or until I'm satisfied."

"That's a bit unreasonable—" blurted the redhead before realizing she had spoken out. She quickly covered her mouth, hoping her remark wasn't heard, but the jounin did not miss a beat.

"I do not like to repeat myself, Akimichi. I'm the examiner here. I _have_ the power over you." The low rumble in his voice was there again; superior and absolute that it made her knees weaker. Who was she to talk back to the infamous S-class Rogue Nin Uchiha?

"I'll give you five seconds head start." Sasuke closed his eyes once again.

"Hey, wait!" Momo was alarmed. It was all going too fast.

"Five…" the jounin began to count down. He could feel the three genin hesitate.

"Four…"

Hotaru was gone without much encouragement.

"Three…"

Hajime had taken a step back, a kunai in hand but still unsure to follow Hotaru or stay his ground.

"Two…"

The Akimichi girl had decided. It was now or never.

"One."

Three snakes uncannily shoot off like bullets. The first, the red and black one, slipped past Momo and aimed for Hajime.

The boy sent his kunai sailing to block the reptile, at the same time, took a great leap backwards. The snake simply twisted itself in mid-air and narrowly missed the sharp weapon. It dropped to the ground and continued its pursuit of his target, sliding with lightning speed.

Taking another leap for better leverage, he hurled three shuriken. Two hit the target, one on the midsection and another closer to the head.

The animal stopped dead. Hajime praised himself for his good aim; he always had precise hand-eye coordination.

_Was it over? That was quick._

Hajime took a glance to his red-haired teammate, her back to him. She had staggered backwards and, from his vantage point, he could say but the lime green snake was dangling particularly close to her face, slithering and twisting.

_No, how could she be so careless? The test had only just begun and she's already out._

"'eysss!" Somebody hissed. Hajime looked down to his supposed-to-be dead snake, only to find it wiggling and dividing into three from the joint where his shuriken were once wedged. "Don't think I'm through with you!" it said.

The boy raised an eyebrow. Did that snake head just speak to him?

Or had he been bitten and was now hallucinating?

The snake, now completely separate into three parts, started to quiver madly that reminded him of frying bacon and hotdogs—and he was a vegetarian for starters!

The segments then inflated like scaly red and black dough before bursting into boils and yellowish pus.

The brown-haired boy pulled his kunai out and readied himself. Three new snakes slowly emerged from the carcasses of sickening goo, each identical to the first original one.

He inwardly groaned.

--

"Uchiha-san… I'm really sorry about what I said about you earlier," the tan-skinned girl spoke slowly, "should have known it was you."

The raven-haired Uchiha did not react. _Snobbish as ever,_ Momo thought.

"Anyway…" she pressed on, ignoring his lack of interest, "I think I've sailed through this test already."

Momo lifted the green reptile's head, holding it steady and firmly between her grasp. Training had actually paid off; her reflexes had increasingly improved and enough to catch a spiting poisonous snake by the head before it got a knick of her nose. "I think I should be giving this back to you, eh?"

Still the jounin said nothing.

"Sen—" That was when Momo felt a heavy weight tug her down. The little green snake had wrapped itself around her left arm… and it wasn't little anymore. And it was growing by the second.

"You were saying, Akimichi?' Sasuke jibed.

"Shit!" Momo cursed, grabbing a kunai from her pouch.

The snake instinctively made a snap at her hand but she quickly drew away, dropping her kunai in the process. The animal then drew back, hovered its flat head over Momo's face, seemingly dancing as it eyed the girl with menacingly slit eyes

The Akimichi grabbed its jaw and pushed it as far away from her face before it had any idea of taking a bite off of it. _This is bad…_she thought,_ I can't form any jutsu without both my hands! Bad! Bad! Bad!_

The snake snake's weight was mounting up as well. She could barely stand now as it twisted its other end around her shoulder and torso. Her left arm was totally immobilized, stuck to her side.

"Get off me!" she cried. The bright green reptile began constricting around her torso and neck as she struggled to free herself.

Her grip slipped as the green snake finally made a dive for her face, but she recovered. With fast reflexes, she was able to land a punch by its lower jaw, pushing its head back again. But the motion coupled with the beast's unbelievably increasing weight, they tittered and toppled over. She took this to smash its head to the ground.

"Getoffme! Getoffme!" she cried again, pinning the snake's head to the ground.

The animal gave an angry jerk, its rough scales grinding against her flesh.

She screamed from the sharp pain…

--

Fight or flee?

Those were two simple instructions but if you asked little Hotaru which one she preferred, that would easily be answered…

FLEE! Flee for your freakin' life!

She was first to run away like a scared little mouse. She didn't have to think it through; it was an innate human response to seek cover in the prospect of danger. No one can really blame her for wanting some self-preservation.

But what would her father say if he found out he sired a coward who hightailed at the first sign of a battle? He trained her with more skills and ninja techniques than an average genin could have known. But here she was, cowering into the background in hopes that she would stay out of sight and out of harm's way.

She watched Momo stand her ground and get tackled instead.

She saw Hajime deal with his snake, only to worsen his situation.

Hotaru was first to flee… but she did not escape. She couldn't anyway because her fuzzy blue snake actually glued her feet in place.

The slithery animal had spat some kind of translucent adhesive slime that smelled like rancid food, ruining her sandals. Those were really cute sandals—custom-made and with tiny puppy faces stitched to the sides. She had inwardly sighed, _Oka-san won't be very happy with this…_

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm dancing," Hotaru answered, swaying left and right but not taking her eyes off her opponent, "I'm a snake charmer."

"Hessss…" the snake hissed, equivalent of a sigh, "look… that would normally work on ordinary reptilians but not on a Summon like me. So please stop. You look like an idiot, human girl."

"…" Hotaru continued her swaying, but even though how much she moved, her feet were really stuck to the thick tree branch.

"Did you hear what I said?"

"…"

The Summon grew irritated; an angry red vein popping on its scaly head, (if that was even possible).

Hotaru still swayed, however. In fact, she was beginning to quite enjoy it: swinging your body at a very dangerous range on top of a tree without actually falling off. Maybe she should charm glue-spitting snakes more often.

"Will you stop that already?!"

Involuntarily, the reptile began mimicking the light-haired girl waving movements. Slow motions—left then right and left again—in a tantalizing rhythm.

"Not working!"

Sway left.

Sway right.

Sway.

Sway.

And sway.

"Stop…" it wasn't much of a protest as the blue snake fell deep drunk into the movements.

Just sway, sway and more swaying.

Discreetly, Hotaru drew her hands together and formed a chain of seals.

"No… isss really not… working…" the reptile slurred, a goofy grin on its flat face.

Hotaru grinned beneath her mask. _Otou-san would be so proud…_

--

"Sasuke…" the little yellow toad piped from his perch on top of the dark-haired jounin's head, "don't you think you're going a bit overboard with this?"

The Akimichi girl in front of them was having an endless wrestling match with an anaconda now. Farther away, the only male in the genin group was bounding like a grasshopper to avoid his ever-multiplying own, while little Hotaru-chan was nowhere in sight.

"Bastard, you're going to kill them!" Naruto pulled the unresponsive man's hair.

"I know what I'm doing." Sasuke grabbed the toad from his head and dropped him unceremoniously to the ground with a loud thud. Surprisingly, Naruto did not land on hard ground.

"Hokage-sama, are you all right?" An ANBU, appearing out of nowhere, had thrown himself to break his boss' fall. Another one was already pointing a blade at the Uchiha's neck.

"Jeez, you guys are fast. I'm fine; you can go back to your posts." Naruto rolled over and hopped off of the masked guy's back. "See, Sasuke, this is what you'll get when you mess with a Hokage."

"Bite me," the rogue nin said deadpan, brushing his fine hair back into place.

The toad replaced himself beside his alleged best friend on top of the same flat rock, brushing off the other ANBU who was reluctant to leave without as much as a nick at the Uchiha's smug face.

"This is too much, Sasuke, they're only kids!" Naruto carped again, "Why didn't you just settle for a simple bell test like Kakashi-sensei? Look, that girl's suffocating—"

"If they don't know how to get out of this," the Uchiha's voice was devoid of any warmth, "it's because they lack the strength to fight and thus they don't deserve any attention from me…"

The toad beady eyes widened at the statement. Was he serious?

"And did I not tell you to not interfere?" Sasuke added

"You don't order me around, teme! I'm Hokage!"

"Sure…" the other muttered.

"And I'm here to see how Hotaru-chan's doing," Naruto added, as if he hadn't heard Sasuke's last comment.

"You give that kid too much credit."

"You bet'ya! If you're looking for talent, I tell you she's got plenty. She's our teammates' daughter! You just wait, teme, she's gonna pass your stupid test without a sweat. Believe it!"

The Uchiha exhaled his increasing annoyance out. "Just don't interfere." He repeated.

"That's what the disguise is for." Naruto pointed, a bit too full of himself.

_Idiot._

Masquerading doesn't prevent one from meddling in. The Jinchuuriki clearly had a misconception regarding that matter. Besides, changing into a toad was hardly a disguise if you have the subtlety of _the_ Uzumaki Naruto.

--

She was pinned to the ground now. She couldn't move. The air, the very living essence of her was being squeezed out by a monster of a snake. She could practically hear her own heart beating in her ears.

_I have to get out of this… I have to… I must become a ninja! _She rolled over again, crushing the damn animal's head with her own weight. But the snake gave another painful jerk and she was flat on her back again.

The scales were not at all slick like it appeared to be but hard and spiky. She knew she must me bleeding somewhere.

_It won't end like this! I can do this…_

Quickly finding her footing, she lifted herself along with the darn animal and slammed back at the ground with the fullest force she could muster. The snake was unperturbed, continuing his bone-crushing embrace. Momo did it again, making sure that the head would be completely crushed under her force and weight. The animal, this time, retaliated by twisting violently.

She won't last much longer, she knew. She couldn't even muster to yell from the pain again.

She needed air. Unconsciousness was ebbing nearer. She was desperate.

She screamed one last time.

--

He heard her scream the first time. She was in pain. She needed help. But Akimichi Momo would never shout for help. She was too proud to ask for it.

Hajime ignored it. Akimichi could take care of herself. Besides, he was already driven farther away from her and had his own hands full at the moment.

The snakes had divided themselves over again and they did not even need to be sliced in half. Now he was dealing with eight snakes at least. But there could be more, he just wasn't sure.

The slithering animals had taken to the ground, digging underneath then popping out like corn. They tried to snap at his legs but Hajime was quick enough to escape them—jumping, flickering out of the way or using substitution techniques—but it was tiring all the same. He needed a plan and fast.

Leaving behind clones to distract the animals, the boy took refuge within the foliages of the high thick-trunk trees. He couldn't use chakra like Momo but he was a good and fast climber all the same. He had to think quickly now that he had time to escape. He surely can't use his kunai or shuriken; they'll grow out of the severed parts and multiply.

_If only I could pin them down, contain them all at once… and then… something to—wait… _ Insight granted him an idea. He began rummaging through his kunai pouch.

Unbeknownst to the brown-haired boy, his slithering enemies had already found him. It took them a bit of time due to the fact that snakes weren't naturally trackers. Slowly they approached the unaware boy while he was in deep thought.

Suddenly a loud cry for help was heard, startling the boy. The snakes promptly resided back into the shadows before the boy could sense them. Hajime pushed the leaves away to peer at the commotion below, still oblivious he was about to be ambushed.

That was when he noticed Hotaru staring right back at him from another tree branch situated a good distance away.

"Nii-chan! Behind you!" the little girl suddenly yelled.

Turning half-way behind, Hajime caught a glimpse of a bunch of red and black shooting out of the dark thick leaves. And within the next second they had closed their jaws to a hard heavy log. Substitution.

The tall lad popped right beside his smaller teammate. "Whew, that was close," Hotaru sighed.

"What happened to you?" Hajime gapped at her goo-covered feet.

"I'm a little stuck," she said, trying to wiggle her feet free.

Hajime heard muffled hissing from behind. Quickly turning with a kunai in hand already, he then realized it was the fluffy-headed blue snake that followed Hotaru. It was now tied and gagged to the tree trunk by metal strings.

He only quirked an inquisitive eyebrow at Hotaru.

"It turns out summoned snakes are susceptible to slow swinging motions and it pulls them into a trance-like state," the purple-clad girl said, smiling underneath her yellow medical mask, "I'd give you a demonstration if you like."

Hajime did not ask further from that.

--

After removing the little girl from her sticky predicament, the two set out to help their other teammate. Near by, two sets of orbs had been watching them intently.

The big yellow frog pumped his little arm in the air. "Hell yeah! Did you see that Sasuke? Hotaru-chan floored your pet, dattebayo!"

The cat's mouth only twitched, irritable.

"The boy's pretty fast too. Did you see how he executed that substitution? And I heard he's pretty smart too… ranked over-all third in his class, I believe. Not bad. Hey, why don't you accept this team? They'd make a dynamic combination, dattebayo!" Naruto nudged his pokerfaced companion.

"He didn't sense them coming," the cat muttered, "He was too preoccupied with his thoughts."

"Come on! He was trying to formulate his strategy. Even Shikamaru gets a little in it over his head when he's thinking."

"…"

"Look, they're the closest to have ever tried to reach your standards—and god knows what _those_ are—but what are you expecting? These are children. _Children_. They're young, inexperienced and that's the concept of teaching them, dattebayo!"

Sasuke-cat looked away, uninterested. He was very sure he had heard this lecture before. Naruto was still ranting when he decided to poof away, returning to his original host.

--

Her teammates had come to help her the moment she cried out for it. They had attacked the giant green; Hajime had thrown shuriken after shuriken for its head and while it was distracted, Hotaru had utilized a perfect String-Reeling Technique to shut its enormous mouth.

By that time, Momo was already coming in and out of consciousness. She had only heard their struggle, calling her name and prying her out of the snake's grip.

Hotaru had the anaconda's head held fast, pulling the other end of the thin string to draw its attention only to her. But the animal hadn't been big for anything; it tugged back very violently causing the little kunoichi to stumble hard on the ground. Hajime had then pounced on to it, plunging a kunai deep into its side.

It caused worse reactions however, resulting for more violent thrashing and a tighter squeeze to its victim.

But after all the fierce struggling, Momo had felt her arm free. It must have been the sudden rush or the innate instinct to survive, but she had reached into her thigh holster and successful pulled out a piece of paper. She quickly slapped it to the snake's side and released.

The explosive tag—a mere firecracker actually—had worked. Her anaconda captor had shrieked, hallowed in pain and gone limp and loose.

Momo could have patted herself on the shoulder for her ingeniousness, if only she wasn't half dead-beatened. She knew it was dangerous to use the tag at such close proximity but it she hadn't cared then, she didn't care now as long as it worked.

Hotaru and Hajime pulled the barely conscious Momo from under the limp and bleeding lime green monster. She had her eyes shut, breathing heavily and clutching her left arm. Her skin was scratched and bruised. Her hair was a sticky mess while her tunic once peach now ragged and stained with purple blood. Exhaustion was taking her so slowly. Plus, her ears were ringing.

"How is she?" Hajime crouched beside the two girls.

"What d'you… think I l-look… like?" panted Momo, "I'm great…"

Hotaru studied the older girl's face, cradling Momo's head on her lap. She pulled the eyelids up and checked for dilations on the pupils. "She's exhausted," the light-haired girl murmured, "she's out of breath but I think nee-chan will be fine. Give her a while."

"… but still stuck-up as ever." He flicked a sticky strand of hair out of her face.

"C-count… on it!"

Then Hajime did the unexpected: he took out a handkerchief and wiped Momo's face of sweat and blood.

The girl just stared at him, wide-eyed.

The boy felt this and cleared his throat before directing his question to Hotaru. "Isn't she poisoned? That thing was taking a chunk at her—"

"I'm fine…" Momo piped, breathing slowly back to normal, "I got… thick hide."

The green-eyed little girl only nodded, agreeing.

"T-thanks…" Momo said softly when he was finished cleaning her face. If her face wasn't red already from exertion, she was sure to be blushing. "For helping me out there," she added quickly, hiding her uneasiness, "you too, jou-chan."

"No problem," the boy said, rising before throwing the soiled clothe away.

Momo also rose to sit, wincing at the dull ache shooting through her left shoulder.

"Anything broken?" asked Hotaru.

The redhead began slowly rotating, flexing and pumping her left appendage, cringing at the pain. "Think it's all good," she said, assuring, "but I think it's asleep."

Momo let her arm drop to her lap then eyed the blasted green snake. It was still alive and crawling slowly away. It now had a deep impression on its scaly side, blood was flowing profusely. It said something before poofing away into nowhere.

Violet eyes trailed to its raven-haired summoner sitting on top of a flat rock like it was a throne…

And eating take-out ramen with a bright yellow toad.

"Sensei!" Momo called, "were you even watching us?"

The jounin was dipping his chopstick into the steaming noodle, thinking of something much better to eat like miso or umeboshi. The toad next to him was slurping his third cup away.

"Sensei!!" cried Akimichi again, now on her feet.

Sasuke's head jerked up as if he had only heard her call for him then. "… Carry on," he shooed them with his chopsticks, "I'll be finishing my lunch here without interrupting you."

"Wha-! How could-" she seemed lost for words, "I almost died here!!!"

Sasuke fixed her a steady measuring glare; even behind sunglasses, they knew he was glaring. "I could care less if you died now," he said icily, "it only shows that you are pitifully weak. Death means failure. And _failure_… is unacceptable in a ninja's line of work. If you fail now then you will never survive a real battle."

The Uchiha's words struck hard and true, enough to hush up Akimichi and stop the frog mid-slurp of his meal.

"But like I said earlier: you have the option to give up," the man said after a moment, poking his noodles again. "With your performances, I think it is better for you to quit now."

Momo could not believe what he was actually suggesting this. Again. "… Never," she seethed, fisted hands trembling. She'd shave her own well-nurtured hair off before that happens. "How could you say that?! For your information, I already blasted one of your snakes; so technically I've already passed!"

"But you forgot… I said to get rid of _all_ of them."

Momo turned to her fellow genin. "Guys?" she asked expectantly.

"Hotaru had already caught hers. Mine… was a little complicated to handle," Hajime admitted.

"Okay… so that's two-thirds down," Momo said slowly, "it's a better deal actually. Just one more to go."

"Not… _exactly_ one more," Hajime said slowly.

Momo only blinked and suddenly the entire woodland was covered in red and black stripes, hissing and snarling at them. Within seconds the entire area was surrounded. More crawling creatures came popping out of the ground, uprooting undergrowths, and slithering up the branches of the trees. Everything everywhere was already covered, save for the little circle where the humans had stood; escape seemed impossible.

Momo's tanned skin had gone quickly paler. "Okay…" she said weakly, "h-hundreds more to go then."

"This is just too difficult for you, I should know" the dark man continued, mockingly cajoling, "but there's always next year, Akimichi. Quit now and you could at least walk back to the academy unharmed. And by that you can't say you failed my test. You just… quit. You won't lose anything, now would you? It might even make a difference. A few months more with your workbooks and little practice kunai and you might finally come out with a brain."

Hajime was looking down on the ground, feeling as much of a disappointment.

"Or some backbone maybe?"

Little Hotaru would have liked to run away now. Run away and cry in some corner.

"So what will it be?"

"Never!" Momo cried out suddenly, "We'll never give up!" Her gaze then snapped to the others beside her. "Just because it's starting to get a little tough to the point were we can't stand anymore… that doesn't mean we have to quit trying!"

She didn't even bat an eye when Hajime and Hotaru just stared at her for a long moment. They might have been thinking that she was mad—she almost felt the same way too—but it did not matter. If they weren't in it with her, it would be a shock but it still wouldn't wither her resolve.

Momo turned her eyes back to the Uchiha. "Nobody calls me a quitter!" she claimed, "I've worked too hard to get here. I've even fought your snake-monster… and I'll take another one or a dozen more!" She eyed the horde surrounding them, "and I'll take _them_ all… but _I.__ Will. Never. Yield_."

Sasuke saw fire of determination in her eyes.

Akimichi Momo. Though she graced the name of a ninja clan famous for their body-enlargement techniques and typically excessive eating habits, Momo stood out like a sore thumb amongst her clansmen for her darker complexion and thinner body structure—far cry from the characteristic Akimichi. She was a young girl who seemed too out of place in her very home and one day stumbled upon a desolated compound that she made her own private sanctuary, coming and going without fear of the place that once held a mass patricide. She wasn't even deterred by the owner of the said compound either.

The Uchiha could care less who she was or what her reasons were for wanting to be a ninja so desperately as long as she has the skills to prove. But, so far, she had not shown anything aside from an idiot's courage to blow her self up when the push comes to shove.

Hotaru shook her head feverously, as if to wake herself up. "I am not giving up too," her voice lowered and eyes were narrowed with all seriousness, "for once, I'm not going to be scared… I am ninja. I am Hatake."

The Last Uchiha could only smirk to that proclamation.

The pride she so called was not in the name but in her father, the Copy Nin's legacy alone. Being the only child of a man who had embellished every Bingo book in the continent and beyond, she was marked child since birth. Hatake Hotaru, having lived a life under shelter and protection, she only wished to prove herself of her own worth. But what her other teammates lacked in learned techniques, she needed in guts and focus.

And what of the 'teamwork' her father had been preaching? Surely the Copy Nin did not miss that part of her training.

"Uchiha-san…" spoke Hajime, "you once told me to live. 'Live and survive' as my purpose. If death is failure… I won't fail. I promise you that…"

Solid black orbs behind dark shades met equally black ones.

The boy, an unfortunate one who had nothing but a name to go by, that the Rogue Uchiha once saved and brought to Konohagakure. Hajime was still a wondering soul in search for reason but the will to fight to find that reason was what drives him.

Today, he had made a promise. The boy was taking this seriously, wasn't he? Sasuke hadn't expected much more from the boy. Having seen each of their dossiers before hand, he had been particularly interested with Hajime's grade reports from the Academy—he faired all categories with passable and above average marks and never exceeding. If the boy was indeed taking ninja seriously, then why had it taken this long for him to have an epiphany as to swear he wouldn't fail?

The Uchiha had fallen silent in reflection, inwardly sighed for the worthlessness of his predicament. It was already giving him a headache. Ever since the beginning of this fiasco, reverently called 'Sasuke Reinstatement Plan No.287' by no other than the current Fire Shadow, the council of elders had tried to meddle in on every set of graduates the Academy had assigned for him. They threw in their own children with precautions and predispositions to be weary of the once defector. And Sasuke knew those previous teams had been more of spies for their clans, eyeing his every move for any reason that could land him in the lowest cell of Konoha prison. This was why he had turned down every team since the first.

But in the end, it was still Naruto who stuck up to him; secretly intervening even though it had been all too obvious to Sasuke. Why else would the Hokage be sitting beside him today, watching over this progression? And as a _toad_ no less?!

The dark shinobi eyed each child one by one. This was the team the Hokage had personally come up with as of late, the team that Naruto was hopeful he would take under his wings. To be frank, this has to be the most unbalanced team ever since… well, ever since the previous Team 7 had been formed.

He could only imagine working on them. Each of their known skills did not complement one another and if Sasuke was looking for team dynamics, only slightest was found in this group. The Hatake girl was uncooperative and practically ran out of her teammates. Not good. The other girl was a whiner and would question authority like a spoiled brat. Not good either. And the boy, though much less of a problem, was far too passive and his senses were as keen as the dull edge of a bread knife.

But maybe, just maybe this genin set was the closest he could ever get to an effective working team, who didn't flinch at the very sight of him. And it was Naruto he had to give credit for. It had been by his hand to come up with these three young ones who actually knew Uchiha Sasuke without contempt and prejudice—a girl who made a playground out of his home, the spawn of his one-time teacher and a kid he had unconsciously rescued from a disaster. The question was: would it in reality work out?

"…Dattebay—ow!" the toad yelp after a fist was removed from his cranium.

Within a blink of an eye, two black and white-clad masked men appeared out of nowhere, aiming their kunai and sword at the raven-haired jounin's neck and heart, respectively. Sasuke was undeterred, pinching the bridge of nose and regretful at the loss of his train of thought. He should not have expected Naruto to keep quiet for a longer period of time. "You just have to ruin the moment, don't you?" he hissed to the toad above his own snake summon's replica's reverberating snarls.

The ANBU would have been ready to strike him down if their Hokage hadn't beaten them to it. "You bastard! You'll pay for that!" Naruto hurled himself for the other man's face. Sticky webbed fingers attached themselves on his hair and jaw, the toad's broad belly smothering Sasuke's mouth and nose.

What was going on? The three children watched in wordless horror as their sensei struggled to pry away the strange yellow wart-covered animal from his face before he suffocated. Strings of curses and threats were exchanged.

"Ohmygawd! That frog is talking?!" Akimichi was first to recover of the three from their stupor.

"I think it looks more like a toad…" Hajime said slowly.

"Oh, did you hear that? The yellow frog talked! And he sounded like my Naruto-oji-tan!" Hotaru was ecstatic, bouncing on the balls of her feet. But they didn't give her notice.

"The freakin' frog is talking!!!" The auburn-colored girl repeated louder, grabbing her ponytails. She was hyperventilating again.

"No need to overreact, Akimichi—"

"Hajime. A freakin'. Frog. Is talking… And it was eating ramen. With utensils. Why shouldn't I freakin' not overreact to _that_?!" She flailed her arms up and down in emphasis.

"It's really not that big of a deal—"

"'Not big of a deal?' '_Not a big deal_?!" she was wide-eyed mad, "Have you heard of an animal talk before? Because I surely haven't."

"That snake I fought talked. It bothered me but I didn't freak out… and it's a toad." He corrected again.

"I'm hungry…" mumbled the sleepy-eyed little Hotaru to her self.

"This is just insane! What next? That frog turning into a man when sensei kisses it?!"

All eyes were instantly on the cherry-haired girl as she stomped around.

Hajime was looking at her while silently wishing that he had never met her. Sasuke along with the toad—who were finally disconnected from one another—and the two ANBU guards were gawking at her like she had just said something foreign. And Hotaru… she was just staring but was actually thinking of lunch.

There was strange silence among them. Even the snake horde had gone still.

The Uchiha glanced sideways at his wart-coated friend in the arms of one of the ANBU. At the same time, Naruto looked up and met his eyes. They both flinch at the contact.

"Now, that's just sick kid!" Naruto snapped, releasing his Toad Self-transformation technique and in a poof of smoke reverted back to his orange-clad human self. The very thought of brushing any part of his face with that of the Sharingan-master was revolting, it made his stomach churn the wrong way.

Wait.

Just wait a damn second…

He _had_ kissed Sasuke once before!

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Ohmygawd!!!"

(to be continued...)

* * *

Writer's Note: so far this has been the longest chapter i've written... hopefully it won't be the last.

please review! i want to know if people reading this are of the living or am i writing for fictional beings as well?


	4. Twist Four

**LEMONADE**

Twist Four

By: _Bakunawa_

_

* * *

  
_

The sun yawned above the endlessly blue sky as the afternoon stretched on. Hatake Hotaru yawned as well. She had read something about those, maybe from one of those health magazines at her mother's workplace, but she couldn't quite remember. It said that when a person yawns a lot, it didn't necessarily mean that he or she was tired or sleepy; sometimes it's because of an empty stomach. This most likely was one of those circumstances.

She yawned again, barely interested in the growing activities happening. Sasuke-sensei was trying to remove the large bright-colored frog from his face. The masked guys were just standing there, looking very dumb at each other with their weapons hanging in the air. They seem indecisive, whether to help out or just stand back and wait for orders. Like one of those extras in the television that were just supposed to say one line and leave the scene but then chaos ensue and they get caught in the middle of it all.

Sometimes Hotaru would feel a little bit of sympathy for them—they were just innocent bystanders who got caught with the unusual turn of events, becoming victims of circumstances—but most often they were just there for to entice comic relief.

Or maybe that was just how she thought of them…

Sasuke-sensei was saying bad words to the frog now, when he was normally a very quiet person. He looked very funny fighting the frog too. He seemed to know the little guy very well to have such interactions. Come to think of it, the frog did sound very familiar.

"Oh, did you hear that?" Hotaru finally realized, "The yellow frog talked! And he sounded like my Naruto-oji-tan!"

But Momo-nee-chan was shrieking already to have heard her properly. She was batting all her irritation at Hajime-nii-chan while the older boy was trying his best to get some sense into her.

They really did remind her of her parents. But mind you, it wasn't so frequent that the Hatake couple argued. It was perhaps only when either one of them was being too bullheaded to listen to the other, but they more likely share loving banters about little things and whatnot. And Hotaru was more often than not a participant or the object of discussion.

"I'm hunger…" Hotaru said softly, attempting to shift the others' attention but failed as it reached deaf ears.

If she hadn't known better, her other teammates would have passed off as a real couple. They'd look cute together! But that was ridiculous notion since they were too young to be thinking about that sort of stuff… right?

"This is just insane!" Momo wailed, stomping around, "What next? That frog turning into a man when sensei kisses it?!"

Awkward silence.

Usually Hotaru appreciated quietness—convivial, serene and would really help when you're trying to figure out your own thoughts. Then she yawned again. Regretting it this time, the silence only brought her attention back to her wordlessly protesting stomach, bringing about the images of steaming rice, fried fish, shabu shabu and red miso soup… oh, just thinking about food was making her drool beneath her allergy mask

"Now, that's just sick kid!" The toad said and puffed out to be replaced by none other than her Naruto-oji-tan.

She was right! Hotaru could have squealed, ran up to her 'uncle' and give him a big bear hug, like she usually do… but something was wrong with his face. It was red and scowling. Was he angry?

Sasuke-sensei was looking the other way too. He looked blanched though, like he had eaten something very horrible. Something must be really wrong. The young kunoichi thought it was best to stay quiet and watch things unravel themselves before taking action. Her Otou-san taught her that much.

"Ohmygawd!!!" Momo practically screamed.

Sasuke-sensei groaned, smacking his forehead.

"Hm…?" was Hajime's response. Though he very well recognized the village kage, but what was he—of people, the Hokage—doing here 'bickering'—to put it more lightly—with another grown man?

"Don't be distracted by this," the jet-haired man spoke to the youngsters directly, "You still have to finish my test, remember?"

"What's the Hokage doing here?" Momo whispered to Hotaru, voice quivering as if she was about to cry. She was pulling feverishly on the hem of her torn and dirtied tunic and combing back her loosened disheveled hair. Hotaru simply shrugged her shoulder in response, wanting to ask the same question herself.

"The Hokage is simply an onlooker but he'll be leaving very soon, aren't you Naruto-_sama_?" But the respectful address was more of a threat than an acknowledgment of the other's superior status, Hotaru figured.

"Don't put words into my mouth, teme!" the kage sneered, challenging as well in his tone.

Suddenly a kunai aimed at the Uchiha's neck was dangerously pushed farther against his pulse. ANBU had moved in with great speed, the children barely noticed they had moved at all.

"Well, isn't this great?" The jounin mumbled.

"What's that?" the Fire Shadow was snappish.

"You're the one insisting for this arrangement." Sasuke glared, "And I will abide by it but I'd like to do it my way…"

Hotaru's oji-tan's scowling face visibly slacked. Then it went confused.

"If you don't mind…" the Uchiha gave Naruto an odd expression and a jerk of his head towards the trees. The Hokage followed the gesture but then turned his head towards the kids.

Momo flinched at his gaze; she all but wanted to shrink. She really, _really_ had to seal off her mouth next time because everything that came out of it was all just wrong and humiliating.

The blonde kage met Sasuke's blank expression again and slowly he understood. "Fine…" he said sighed, slipping off the rock.

He waved to the children with a meaningful smile on his handsome face. "Good luck guys!" he said to them then left to the woods.

Hotaru squeaked with delight from her spot, waving her back at her Oji-tan for finally recognizing their presence. But the silent agreement between the two older men did not escape her. Still it was all confusing.

Naruto called for the ANBU to retreat, whistling to an unknown tune as he went on ahead with his hands in his pockets. The masked men were reticent but followed him nonetheless.

That was when Hotaru sensed it, ignorable as it was but then something brushed her bare left foot. Her eyes snapped down though her face remained still. The dirt beside her foot was upturned as if a plow was dragged along it from underneath or something large thought of taking a swim under earth-ground. Then there was red and black.

"Snakes!" the blanched-skinned graduate gasped, making a grab for Hajime before he got bitten.

Every slithering reptilian in the vicinity was closing in on them, snarling and baring their toxin-injecting fangs.

"So this is how it goes again." Hajime wasn't asking, looking up at the jounin expectantly.

"… You better run now," was Sasuke's sinister reply.

--

Getting rid of the ANBU was as easy as separating a sake bottle from a drunken Tsunade: just replace it with another one of course. A well-placed Kage Bunshin was all it took Naruto to ditch his personal guards.

Dropping down silently from his place above the trees, he resumed his seat beside the quiet impassive man. "You're not getting rid of me that easily," he said.

And per usual, Sasuke only replied with a grunt.

"So, does this mean that you're gonna pass them?"

Again, no answer.

The Fire Shadow of Konoha sighed, scratching his head. "You know, you'd do yourself a lot of good, if you'd just pass them. For one, you'd be squad leader. Won't that be nice? You could rub off of 'em as much as you want. Just hope they won't end up defecting from the village too, 'coz that would be a very big problem."

He meant the last as a joke but the other person didn't seem to care.

"Two, you'd be getting mission scrolls again," Naruto continued anyway, "They'd be D to C-ranks only but once they're all chuunin…"

He paused for an effect, which would have worked if Sasuke was even half interested. "I have a box of at least 25 S-rank… and it has your name on it."

The Uchiha's brows rose one after the other, head turning slightly, now that his attention was caught. But then he scowled and looked straight ahead again. "Is that some sort of bribe?" he asked callously, "I'm not that desperate Naruto."

"Right," the other snorted, "well, weren't you the one trying to steal them when I had my back turned? If that didn't look desperate, then…" he paused, thinking, "then Sai's gay, dattebayo!"

--

In another part of the country, where baboons were abundant in number, a particularly pale ANBU operative sneezed under his gloved hand.

Unfortunately, because he had been attempting to sneak up on the dozing alpha-male monkey to retrieve an experimental vaccine it had stolen, now he was worrying how to escape with all his appendages intact.

"…shit," was his expressionless curse.

--

"Does anybody have a better plan aside from running around like baboon-monkeys?" the eleven-year-old said asked, panting. Running on her bare feet was something she did not find pleasant.

"Yeah! I got one! And it's a good one!" Momo breathlessly replied, smiling madly, spinning to a stop as she pulled out several explosive papers, "let's blow 'em all up!"

"Wait!" Hajime panted, "Not yet. I have a better idea." He pulled the auburn-skinned kunoichi by the arm to continue running.

Black and red army of slippery creatures were everywhere—chasing them on their bellies, bearing their fangs and snapping here and there to get a piece of their flesh—that a second's halt would have been the end of their lives.

"Blowing them up is the only option! If we don't they'll swarm all over us!" Momo yelled.

Seriously, this girl can readily and rapidly change her mind. Earlier she was so threatened by explosives, now she's almost doting to use them.

"Do you think your explosive tags are enough? They'll just keep multiplying to an even greater number." The boy answered.

"So then we have to gather them all up first…" Hotaru interrupted from behind.

"Exactly."

"And _how_ do we do that?" Momo did not hide her sardonic tone. She slid sideways, almost bumping into Hajime, when another bright yellow toad appeared then disappeared in front of her. Had that been the Great Hokage Naruto, she wasn't sure anymore

"I have a plan," the boy said, "Listen careful—"

"Watch out!" The little ninja suddenly grabbed the older two and flickered them all out to another portion of the forest, leaving puffy white stuff for the snakes to snap at.

They were all thrown to the ground unceremoniously. Momo had rolled a bit away before lying flat on her back. She was sure she had additional gashes and bruises on her skin but was too unconcerned at the moment to even care. The adrenaline in her was still rushing that her ears started to ring again.

Rolling over her side, she opened her eyes and saw her boy teammate on all fours. He was breathing heavily and shaking all over as he tried to stand up. Hotaru was on the other side, coughing and wheezing uncontrollably.

"… You guys are so heavy," the masked girl said after catching her breath.

"Hang on there, Hotaru," the boy whispered, pulling himself fully up, "save your energy. We still need you for the plan to work."

"I think I stubbed my foot…" she added, sitting upright to welcome the sight of her left foot, smeared and oozing with liquid red. The pain, however, took a longer time to register.

--

"I failed three times," Naruto, the Hokage, suddenly said.

"Hn?" the Uchiha half turned to his comrade.

"I failed three times before graduating from the academy," Naruto uttered a little louder, "… I wasn't really good at anything, I admit to that. I felt useless after being turned done so many times that I would resort to do anything just to have that." The blond pointed the metal plate on his friend's forehead.

A sad smile endeared his boyish face. "Hearing you say about 'death is failure'… that's something new to me. Never expected something like that from you either. But then again, it is _so_ like you… Is that how you view things—victory and defeat? Like living and dying?"

The Sharingan-bearer turned his gaze back to the children. "… I was being cryptic," he said.

Naruto knew Sasuke merely wanted to end the conversation at that. "Well, yeah… care to explain?" He was being a little too persistent though.

"…"

"Okay then…"

Silence extended between them as they watched the three young ones continue the Uchiha's Test of Doom.

--

"It stings!" Hotaru wailed.

"Bear with it for a little while," Hajime tried to assure her.

_Who told her to remove her sandals anyway?_ Momo grimaced too as the little one's foot being wrapped with clean white strip of cloth hastily. It was still bleeding and looked quite painful. "Hurry up," she said, "they might be here any moment."

"I'm fine, pretty-boy-nii-chan… I can do that myself." Hotaru said quietly between sobs. Hajime was kneeling before her, foot on his lap while wrapping it as quickly as he could.

"Pretty boy?" the Akimichi murmured, left eye twitched involuntarily.

"This is only temporary," the dark-eyed boy said, ignoring the other's plea, "We have to get you to the hospital afterwards. You've got a broken nail and splinters."

"Oka-san will not be happy…"

A sudden realization struck Momo.

Hotaru was injured because of saving them.

She had jumped to their rescue before those snakes could have a nick at their feet when they—Hajime and herself—could have easily avoided them if they only had been a little more attentive. The boy must have realized this first for he had been very insistent on bandaging both Hotaru's feet when only one was wounded, perhaps to serve as covering in place of shoes.

She felt a budding of self-loathing in her chest. She had been more than capable of contributing to the team but that had been her problem: she had not been working with her team. All she had been doing was argue with Hajime and selfishly thinking of only her self. And she hadn't thanked the other girl either for that brave feat of saving them.

"Brownie-nee-chan's face really looks delicious," Hotaru said out of the blue. Hajime had just finished, tucking the bandage behind her ankle.

Momo's head snapped. "What did you just say?" She self-consciously touched her sweaty cheek.

"I'm really hungry and you really look like a chocolate cupcake with strawberry icing on top." The little girl had a predatory look on her exposed green eyes.

"I am _not_ food! And I don't like being called Brownie or Choco or Cupcake either. Just one more nickname and I'll punch the living daylights out o—" But then something rumbled like thunder and for a second Hajime thought it would rain… save that the sky was clear and cloudless.

"Are you hungry Brownie-nee-chan?" Hotaru asked innocently, eyes wide and clear that it was difficult to guess if she was genuinely concern or just mocking the other.

"Stop calling me names already!" Momo was flushed with a slight shade of angry red.

Now that she thought of it, she hadn't had breakfast that morning. She had been in a rush to get to the Academy when everything started to turn for the worst. How she wished she should have grabbed a piece of toast or a banana along the way out of the house. But then again, she had woken up late; every bit of food would have been cleared out but her older and _broader_ stepbrothers.

Hajime stood up and cleared his throat. "It might just be…" he began, picking his words right, "that Uchiha-san plans to exhaust us. If you carefully look at the snakes and how they move, haven't you noticed that they've been holding themselves back?"

"What are you talking about?" Momo asked, "All I ever noticed were mouths full of fangs chasing after our behinds or have you forgotten one had come to halfway swallowing me?"

"Exactly," Hajime sighed. "Do you really think your snake could _not_ have eaten you if it wanted?"

"That's because I had its head away from me," Momo chuckled, looking smug, "I had it under serious pounding; it must have been seeing mice dancing around its head for all I care."

"It was huge, Akimichi, we saw it. And you could've just been _that_ dancing mouse if it were _seriously_ trying to eat you. But still you got away unharmed."

"So what are you saying?" the tawny kunoichi was huffing, "that it let me go easy? That it hadn't been squeezing the very life out of me?"

"In a way, it might have just wanted to knock you out." The dark-eyed boy shrugged, "it could've done more damage than that but it didn't."

Momo drew her arms over her chest, feeling very affronted. "You just won't admit I'm _that_ good."

"You're not getting the point, Akimichi," Hajime was trying to explain very patiently, "Uchiha-san said 'don't get bitten', just one bite and you're out of the game. The snake already had you in a death grip; it had you for more that fifteen minutes but you still manage to get away _without_ being bitten."

"And your point is…?"

"My point is… that Uchiha-san might just be trying to make us give-up by physically exhausting us at the same time gauging our skills." He sounded a wee bit annoyed by the girl's bullheadedness.

"_What_ are you talking about?" Momo was exasperated.

"Sasuke-sensei _did_ ask us to quit more than once," Hotaru finally spoke out, seeing to intervene before anything escalated, "and he had been particularly cold too."

"He did," Hajime answered, "and that might just be what he planned all along."

_They're doing it again_, the redhead thought, _are they both telepathic or something? Because I'm the only one who can't seem to ride on the same wave length here._

Momo huffed again, pushing her chin up to the other direction. "Well at least, I got rid of my snake! What about you? I haven't seen you do anything about yours, _Ha-ji-me_," she jibed sourly at the boy. "And come to think of it, we should be blaming you because now we're being chased by a hundred of them," she also added pointedly.

"How did your snake become so many, nii-chan?" Hotaru asked.

"Mine was a little complicated. I couldn't use any weapon on it… they sort of hatch out of their own severed parts." He actually visibly shivered. "As you've seen, it also has the ability to replicate itself on its own, multiplying exponentially."

"So what are we gonna do about, hm? Seeing as we're stuck with _your _problem until they're all gone." asked Momo, crossing her arms over her chest. It was an inevitable question, but the answer was a little harder to come up.

"We have to stop sooner or later…" the mahogany-haired boy said slowly.

"What?!" hollered Momo. "You can't possible—after what we just told him—I thought we all agreed we weren't going to quit?"

"Hold you pants on; I didn't mean it that way."

"Then what?"

"we're exhausted. Hotaru-san's injured. This has to stop soon or we'll be here forever. But I do have a plan in mind…" Hajime looked away, thinking for a moment. "Something that could defeat all those snakes in one shot. But I'll need time to set it up."

"And…?" Momo was looking at him, urging him to explain.

"We could only do it as a team."

It took her off guard, hearing Hajime proposing they should work together was something… new.

_We are a team but I guess we haven't been doing that lately,_ Momo thought_, but to be actually working together as a real team?_ _I like the sound of that. _

She gave the boy a small knowing smirk, which he returned—a mutual agreement._ This might just work. _

--

She drew out a tagged kunai and threw it in the air, striking a tree's base. Momo took off to the other direction whilst drawing her hand, releasing the seal. The tag set off with a 'BANG!' and then a loud cracking of wood meeting ground causing every other creature in the vicinity to scatter, save the ones still hot in her pursuit.

She did not aim for the snakes directly. Blowing them up into pieces would only result into their number growing by the fifth exponent. And she learned that from the hard way too. Her intention was only to distract them while keeping them at a considerable distance from her person.

"'Five minutes,' he said," murmured Momo weakly to no one in particular, "give him five whole freakin' minutes. By the end of that time, we'd be dead!" _Why did I agree to this? Oh yeah, he mentioned 'teamwork' and I fell for it. He better make it work though, or else…_ "Or else I'll force him to wear fishnet-hose… for a week," she spoke her thought out loud.

Momo had been running for a long time, her calves and feet were already protesting. Her throat was dry, breathing came in short pants and hunger was already wearing her out. She could still hear the nerve-racking hisses of a thousand scurrying crawling creatures. Good, they were still steadily on their trail. Or just her. The fickle little white-haired ninja had suddenly disappeared again when one moment she had been running alongside the redhead. The midget could _not_ possibly be wandering around with a situation like this?

Momo took a sharp turn to the right and jumped over an overgrown tree root when another yellow toad hopped out of her way.

The Hokage? Again? The most powerful ninja of the entire village was observing them. Momo silently prayed that the Hokage wasn't doing some sort of performance appraisal while she had been bear-wrestling with a snake right in front of him. She didn't want to think about how she might have looked or what the Kage might have thought on how she looked while rolling around the dirt. With all that crouching and twisting and she wouldn't have been conscious if her tunic had risen off. _My butt must have been sticking out._ _And my hair…_ _No, my hair's all sticky and messy and…_

A branch spun with bodies of snakes snapped and fell in front of her. Momo sharply stopped her run, almost falling flat on her face. But due to the force inertia, she fell over backwards instead and dropped ungracefully on her bottom.

The redhead yelped and reflexively rubbed her derriere, only to realize she was still facing impeding danger. The creatures were slowly slithering their way up to her, showcasing their needle-point fangs. "Run awayssss…" they chorused.

She gave them a curious look. "Hey… You can talk?" she asked them, with labored pants. But then she realized only a second later what she had just said. "Ohmygawd, the snakes just talked!"

--

"Sir, we've just received reports from the on-going activities at Training Ground 4." the ANBU said.

"We've heard explosions, sir. Should we take action?" the other asked.

"… Hm? Nah, it'll be fine." Naruto-bunshin said.

"But sir—"

"You guys worry too much…"

Still the masked guards hadn't figured he was a fake, though they had inkling he had been intentionally distracting them by tagging them along through Konoha's shopping district.

"Here, what about this one?" The clone held out, picking daintily between his fingers from end to end, a very pink, very frilly, yet very see-through piece of underwear—the fifth of the array of thongs he had picked out for his ANBU escorts to choose. "And it's just Hinata-chan's size, dettebayo!"

--

She took off again and turned to another route, still unsure if her sanity was well undamaged.

Momo drew out another kunai, explosive paper twisted on the handle. She dropped it on the ground, leaving it on her wake while the skidding reptilians followed her. The _talking_ reptilians. How was it possible for such animals to articulate? They have pencil-wide tongues, stiff jaws and did they even have vocal cords to begin with? It was an out-of-this-world impossibility!

Hotaru then appeared seemingly out of no where.

"Where were you?!" Momo yelled, struggling to keep on running.

"Sorry, nee-chan," Hotaru held to catch up to Momo's longer strides, "There was this black cat crossing my way, and I didn't want to get bad luck so I took the other way around."

"I don't believe you!" Momo brought her fingers together and the air rung of another explosion, though it had been a moment too late already thanks to the distraction that was Hotaru.

"But it's true." The snow-haired girl pouted behind her health mask.

Momo was not the least convinced however. "Whatever… Just stick with me this time, will'ya?"

"No problem-o!"

"Hey! Not _that_ close!!"

--

"Phu…you're just a cold bastard," the Hokage muttered. "All I'm saying is that these kids… I see that they got more talent than I ever had around their age… and I'm not just saying this. You saw what they could do with your own eyes."

But the Uchiha remained quiet.

"And if you're looking for teamwork," Naruto went on ranting, "you saw how they tried to help each other in the end. Don't you think they've proven themselves already? I can also say that, by hearing them out, they want to prove something more than just being ninjas and I think they _can_ if you give them that chance. Your approval could keep them going."

Naruto looked at his companion, urging him to answer but the Uchiha held a vague impassive expression. It did not give away what he was thinking; either Sasuke was trying to ignore him or his opinion did not matter to the Sharingan-master at all. The golden-haired man sighed, aggravated. You just couldn't push the proud Sasuke to talk; he clutches his own time and uses it only if he felt like it.

But Naruto was nothing short of relentless. "Answer me, teme! The Hokage orders you!"

"Give it a rest, Dobe," Sasuke finally spoke, "I won't treat this team any different from the other teams you've sent my way. I'll only take them in if they pull through this."

"But what you're asking of these kids is impossible."

"… Not exactly."

--

KABOOM! KABOOM!!

That was Hotaru throwing exploding paper to the flanking sides of the rampaging swarm behind them. She was making sure they all followed on a straight comprised path. The great trees were helpful in herding the animals but for the plan to work, they need every single snake in place.

"How's your foot?" Momo suddenly asked. She had only remembered Hotaru's left toe had been injured earlier when she noticed the other's bandaged feet. Running around with a split nail should have been terribly painful but Hotaru seemed unbothered by it, hence Momo's asking.

KABOOM! BOOM!

Two great explosions erupted before Hotaru could answer: "pretty okay, nee-chan. It's not hurting so much anymore!"

She made particular emphasis when she leaped over an overgrown bush and landed nimbly on her feet before joining Momo on the dirt trek that was supposed to lead them to their other teammate.

BOOM!

BOOM!

KABOOM!

"Nee-chan! I'm—I'm all out of explosives." Hotaru cried, panting.

"That's be-cause y-you were using th-em way too soon!" Momo stuttering between her heavy panting breaths as well.

Hotaru gave sheepish smile despite the situation. "What do we do now?"

The sound behind them was rumbling like thunder, loud and perilous. Momo had dared to turn back and look and wished she hadn't. "A-aren't we close to—to Hajime's location?" she asked instead.

"Probably!" answered Hotaru.

They kept on running. There was nothing else to do now but run for their lives. But after circling all over the hundred-hectare land area, everything just seemed the same. The trees, the undergrowths, the track that was supposed to lead them out of the training field, even the strange yellow toads and black cats that kept popping out here and there were all looping into one greet green forestry that they both seemed to be lost in.

But Momo knew they could not possible last on any longer. They were only going on running mechanically, nothing but the sheer automation of the body. It was even worse for Hotaru. Her bindings had already come loose and she was stumbling repeatedly. They needed to find Hajime now.

"Jou-chan?!" Momo suddenly called over to the shorter girl, "can you leap up to the trees?"

"What?" Hotaru automatic replied.

"Up!" Momo yelled at the same time jogging up the first tree that came into her view point.

Hotaru immediately follow suit, chakra concentrated on the soles of her feet to keep her attached to the wood even while vertically running.

A few more yards and the trees were beginning to thin out. To the fore was a clearing and beyond that was metal barrage that separated the training ground from public areas—recognizably, it was the same spot they had came in from. And before that were the green-clad figures of six Hajime.

"Nii-chan!" Hotaru cried out in recognition. "And too many of him…" she added, stating the obvious again.

"B-but which one is he?" Momo cried.

Below them, the snakes had become so loud; their animal shrieks had turned into an unimaginable roaring. They were so stacked and squeezed all together; it was like a tidal wave of red and black. Plants were being trampled on, the ground was crumbling as they passed and trees were slashed and cut into splinters. It was a horde of monsters about to engulf everything on its way!

"On my call, jou-chan!" Momo tipped off_. It has to be just the right moment_, she told herself, _everything has to be on cue_.

She expectantly looked at Hajime, relying on him to give her the signal. Whichever he really was, that is—looking out for the real one among five other perfect duplicates was no joke. But she trusted him enough. It must have been the rush of things, the adrenalin pushing up and erasing all doubt because at that very moment she found herself believing. There was no room for doubting anymore, there was no choice but to put faith in each other.

Hotaru stumbled again. Her bandages must have caught on a branch, making her miss her step and narrowly missing her head getting snapped off by the branch she was supposed to land when found she couldn't stop her momentum. She deftly somersaulted mid-air and recovered, returning to the chase. But already exhaustion was taking a final toll on her.

Still Hajime wasn't moving. Six forms of the boy were just standing there, fist clenched and ready, in the middle of the open space. There faces were set firm with a scowl but they weren't budging an inch.

_What are you doing…?_

The swarm was already closing in on them. The sound of roaring death seemed sheer and diabolical, like one gargantuan beast instead of a thousand smaller creatures. Fangs were already flying in too close for comfort, shooting like deadly darts past their legs.

_Move…_

The last branch was just ahead.

_Now?_

Momo took one last great leap, Hotaru was closely behind her.

Momo's eyes were unconsciously locked to particularly one Hajime behind the others on the far left side. She had never left her eyes from him, even when they were already flying over with only the hard ground to catch them.

Hotaru's smaller hand caught her sleeve, but still Momo did not remove her eyes from Hajime.

_NOW?_

Hajime finally shot his fist up to the air.

"Jou-chan!" was Momo's last cry before the horde closed in on them.

(to be continued...)

* * *

Bakunawa: haha, cliffy!!!

special thanks to toejam18 and mafkeesje for the awesome reviews. this update goes to you two.

so guys please review. it sets me in the mood to update. review, review, review...


	5. Twist Five

**Lemonade**

Twist Five

By: _Bakunawa_

_

* * *

  
_

Earlier, on the last days of winter in Fire Country… the nights had been very cold. Spring had just come to season early but one woman had still felt as cold as the dead of the winter.

But nothing could have warmed her—not the crackling hearth, not the thick coat placed gently on her shoulders, nor the reassuring voice of sweet Nao.

"Milady, please come inside. It's very late and you need your rest," the ginger-haired servant girl had beseeched.

But the young noblewoman had not seemed to hear her. She had simply sat there, halfway in halfway out the paper door, facing the garden. She had not uttered a word nor had she eaten much and now she hadn't moved at all since coming into the sitting room. She had been like a marble statue that could have been part of the garden itself.

"Milady, please…" Nao had tried again, kneeling beside her young mistress, "don't do this to yourself. This is not good for you. I am very worried for your health, milady."

"They'll be blooming soon." The lady had spoken so softly and so suddenly that Nao had gasped at this latest occurrence to her mistress's depressed state.

"Yes, milady?"

"Father… father loves those flowers. He eagerly awaits there bloom," the woman had said. The attendant had waited quietly as her mistress turned her head to regard her with deep and sad eyes.

The noblewoman's usual creamy skin had gone sickly pale and, her lips that were ones as red as roses were then cracked and dry and her beautiful ebony hair had been left limped and lifeless. And her soft brown eyes had been bloodshot and so filled with grief.

Nao had wanted to cry at her mistress's state of being. It had only been a day since the Lord Tezuka's unfortunate passing yet her lady's despair had been evident already.

"He would sit here, with tea and biscuits or a scroll. Right here…" the lady had spoken again and Nao had nodded. "And he would wait almost everyday since the break of winter for the cherry blossoms to open. And I would sometimes wait with him too." the lady had added.

"Lord Tezuka was a gentle soul. He had always appreciated the simple and natural beauty of this world. He was also very kind and gracious. He won't be forgotten, milady."

"… but we were supposed to wait for them to bloom."

Nao had gently brought her hand on her lady's arm to convey her sympathies to the other woman. "I know, milady. It has been… much unexpected, the lord's sudden passing. But please do not dwell on this sorrow. Mourn for now but do not dwell. It would not do good and Lord Tezuka would not want you to be unhappy."

The noblewoman had suddenly shifted, leaning towards Nao kindly presence. "Why…" her voice had cracked, tears had already been dripping soundlessly down her pale cheeks, "why did he have to go away?" She had spoken like a lost child and soon she had fallen into warm embrace of the younger woman as she had been taken by her sorrow.

Nao could have only held her lady quietly, rubbing her soothingly as a friend would to another. In a sense they could be considered friends, despite differences in social standing. Lady Yukishiro had been more than a kind mistress—giving her attendant food, proper clothing and even an education. She had given her respect and courteousness that one would have given to an equal; sharing her joys, her laughter, and even her secrets with Nao as if she was not a servant girl at all. Not once had Nao felt belittled or demeaned by her lady.

And on that day, between late winter and early spring, her lady had needed her—a lowly servant girl—most. And Nao had vigilantly stayed by her side because she would do anything for her mistress.

"Listen to what Nao has to say, Yuki-chan," a voice had spoken, "she knows what she's talking about."

Lady Ayano had stood by the door on the other end of the room in her nightclothes. She was the mistress of the house, recently widowed of Lord Tezuka though she is not Lady Yukishiro's birth-mother. She was a beautiful woman of deep black eyes, darker hair and eternally youthful complexion, and if anyone hadn't known any better, she would have been taken as her step-daughter's sister.

"And stop crying like a child… it won't bring your father back." Her harsh words had come as she turned to leave.

"Milady…" Nao had gasped at the woman's coldness. How could she have said that? It had not been the type of support Lady Yukishiro needed; it should have been sympathy. They both had suffered a great loss but the older noblewoman had simply been indifferent to it all.

A little later, Lady Yukishiro had quieted down. Nao had been able to convince her to leave the Lord Tezuka's favorite garden sitting room to retire for the night. She had the young noblewoman soundly tucked in bed and asleep before leaving the bedchamber with silent feet

"Sleep gently, milady," the young attendant had bid quietly then retreated to the adjacent waiting room of the lady's suite, where she had made a bed out of the plush sofa. She had been doing that for quite a while before this, for her lady had been haunted by disturbing nightmares—sometimes waking up screaming in the middle of the night but could not recall any of her dreams. And then this tragedy had befallen her. The young servant girl wouldn't have dared leave her mistress alone that night.

Nao had once lost her parents as well. She had been very young—two or three years old, maybe—she couldn't quite remember them but she knew the feeling of loss, the sorrow of being alone in the world and how she had wished someone would be there for her. Lady Yukishiro had not been different from hers.

Of course, there had still been Lady Ayano. But the woman had other matters to attend to—or so she had said. Rather than comfort her step-child, she had been going about with her husband's funeral and attending to visitors who came for condolences, and, to be frank, no one had seen her truly grieve over their loss. Or perhaps it had just been how the lady dealt with loss.

Then there had been the lady's noble friends and relatives who had immediately came to the estate or sent condoling letters as soon as they heard the news. They had been very kind but the lady simply wallowed in her grief alone, not even minding them when they had came for her.

It had not matter; Nao would have nevertheless stayed beside her lady as long she was needed.

Now that her father had passed, Lady Yukishiro was the head of the Tezuka estate and all its businesses. Everything that the lord owned was now in her hands as she is his only child and heir. And Lord Tezuka did have many great riches, being related to the Fire Daimyo himself as one reason over a few more.

Nao had not doubtedher lady could handle such great responsibilities but there will be a right time to deal with the affairs her sire left. For that night, the young woman had deserved to mourn quietly for her beloved father.

Nao had laid her head on the propped cushions, praying for her mistress's well being amongst other things before sleep had silently taken her as well.

--

Later that year, between late spring and early summer... Uchiha Sasuke, the Dark Legend of Konohagakure, laid his eyes on the wreck that had befallen on Training Ground no. 4. The forest behind him now had a huge gap—grass and undergrowths had been flattened, thinner trees had been bent aside and the barks of the older ones were heavily scratched. The earth had been turned over, as if a stampede of bulls had passed their way there.

Before him the ten-foot metal fence had been toppled over to the ground and now underneath a searing mass of scaly legless creatures, dead or otherwise. Covering on top of them were light-weighted string nets, which he knew were issued to every young ninja's primary weapon kit. The sight, however, was making an impression of one of Naruto's culinary experiments gone horribly wrong and on a grander scale.

"I can't believe thisss," the original red and black striped snake said, slithering its way across Sasuke's back and finally resting its head on his left shoulder, "sizzling crissspy… you don't pay us enough for thisss."

"You'll get over it." Sasuke told his summon.

The genin had been clever, he could give them that much. He hadn't expected much from those children but he was now impressed and maybe surprised.

The girls had escaped in the nick of time, utilizing the Substitution technique on the boy's signal. A pair of logs had been swallowed up by the throng of snakes instead. The clever thing was, those logs were still lying beside the Uchiha and wrapped entirely with his Summon's replicas—all alive and wriggling to break free from their sticky situation.

They used Bango, the blue glue-spitting one. He couldn't feel that summon's pulsating connection to him, which would mean that the animal was either both dispelled and returned home or dead.

Somewhere beneath the heap in front of him had been five other thick wooden logs with the reptiles glued to them as well. Hajime had hid them under Henge until the last moment the horde came trampling on his look-alikes, only to reveal a trap.

That hadn't slowed the snakes down however; they still kept coming, moving like one great beast in wild blind rage.

The boy then had Substituted himself out as well, appearing right beside his teammates on the other side of the fence. They had watched, pale and horrorstricken, as the throng rammed the metal barrier. It had shook violently and sparked, electrocuting the snakes while keeping the young ones out of their reach.

The training ground had been filled with terrible screeching cries of dying animals. The stench of burnt scales and meat had become overwhelming as sliced blackened carcasses were pressed further through the crisscross wires and dropped to the ground much like cheese would through a steel grater. But still they had kept coming over and over again, ramming themselves, thoughtless that their too-compacted mass could not quite pass through the screen.

Then when the fence couldn't take the compiled weight and force, the poles had bent and it threatened to collapse over.

Hajime, however, had been quick to move. He had called for his teammates, "take your nets!"

And with those metal-string nets, the boy took a step back and jumped over the collapsing metal partition, Momo and Hotaru following his lead. They had released each of their held nets, spreading them wide to cover the snake horde and in the process sandwiching them with the electrified fence. In addition, the nets had served as conductive agents for the electricity to pass over the top of the horde.

Landing deftly, once again inside the training area, the children had watched and waited. The sound of shrieks and the stench of burnt meat had filled the air alarmingly. There had been a moment when the pile slowly rose like it had taken a very deep breathe and they all thought it was going to attack again. But then the fence collapsed entirely, along with the screeching. Soon there had been no movements at all, only the silent struggling of the remaining snake replicas still stuck on each other.

They had been very clever, using the very same trap he set up and turning it against him. Not to mention, his snake summons were earth-affiliated and the electricity had had done them in thoroughly.

"I'd like an addition to your tribute for all thisss trouble," the snake whispered again, intentionally flicking its forked tongue on the human's ear. Though Sasuke only quirked a single eyebrow. "I heard you got a little rat problem in your den," it added, "That would suffice-sss."

_The sneak of a snake…_

"Sure; pop in anytime." The jounin agreed to anyway.

Although, two things about these snake summons was that they always have a price for everything and that they're always up to something. It made them both predictable and unpredictable at the same time but he had learned to deal with them. But if it meant that he wouldn't have to deal with pest scurrying around the empty Uchiha compound, why not?

Sasuke brought back his attention to the three genin. The only male contingent of the group stood a little straighter, scanning his eyes over the damages, the ruined fence in particular; a stoned expression of relief was playing on his face. The auburn-skinned Akimichi beside him, doubled over and exhausted, still trying to ease her breathing. Though she still had the audacity to throw a blaming look at the boy. The Hatake girl, on the other hand, was a looking a bit green in the face—kneeling on all fours and still heaving behind the other two.

No one seemed to dare talk now. Even the blabbering Akimichi girl was too tired to open her mouth. They were just waiting for jounin's verdict. Pass or fail, they seemed ready to accept whichever he decide.

The breeze passed by, its low whistle deafening to the stillness.

"You've made a mess," was all Sasuke could say to them after a while.

"Yeah… but we've done it, didn't we?" Momo was looking eager.

"Of course, you did. Nice of you to point out, Akimichi." Sasuke was looking down at them, arms crossed. "Now who's going to clean this up?"

"But… what about the test?" The redhead tawny girl was suddenly on her feet. "Like you said, we've got rid of them all…"

"Except for one." Hajime suddenly said, eyeing the original summon on Sasuke's shoulder. The snake summon was startled by being recognized.

"Him?" Sasuke cocked his head to look at his own summon as if he'd just seen it himself. "Never mind him. We should be discussing more important matters. Hatake, get up."

"Yes sir," the little kunoichi answered weakly. She hadn't run that long her entire life and afterwards the adrenalin had suddenly extinguished out of her body that it took every last ounce of energy for her to just stand up. Her stomach was feeling a little sour as well.

"The first objective of my test was to gauge your wits," the jounin began, "and I must congratulate for solving the mystery of the electrocuted bird."

Their faces quickly lifted. Momo threw Hajime a knowing look with a grin itching on her face.

"Second objective was for endurance. Surprisingly, you all came out of this in one piece and you've even went through with it 'til the end. None had ever come as far."

"Big hoorayssss!" the summon mocked, swiveling to Sasuke's other shoulder.

Hotaru actually slumped a little. Her endurance might be a little problem now that she was on the brink of passing out. Momo, meanwhile, was openly grinning. This was it. The jounin was finally seeing how excellent they were and how they'd make the perfect team…

"Your potentials are evident, that much I can admit." The jounin's face fell into a heavy frown. "But today you three have demonstrated one of the gravest errors a shinobi could possibly do."

"What?" the redhead reacted.

"Gravest… of error?" Hotaru murmured.

"You," the Uchiha pointed at the young Hatake, making her gasped, "…you ran out of your team. Big mistake. I had the notion you were taught better than that." Sasuke's deep serious voice woke her up and she suddenly felt under the spotlight.

"I-I…" she stuttered, "I didn't mean to… I got scared—"

But the dark jounin ignored her explanation and moved on to the next. "Akimichi," he called, making Momo stand up a little straighter. "You thought you were better than them, taking on an unfamiliar enemy head-on while the rest of your team drew back? Did you think catching a snake with your bare hands would have impressed me?"

Momo opened her mouth reflexively to protest but Sasuke made a shutting gesture to quiet her. "And you're a hell of an annoying girl," he added.

Hajime knew he was coming next. The jounin was picking at them one by one. "And Hajime… you were no better than her."

"What?" both he and Momo involuntarily spoke out.

"You were nearest to Akimichi, weren't you? You must have heard her screaming for help, you could have easily reached her… or had you gone deaf at the time?"

_It was more screaming out of pain than for help,_ Momo silently objected.

"You wanted to finish the test first," the jounin went on, "Make your self look good if you got ahead of everybody… without regard that your teammate might be dying next to you."

Momo turned the tall boy standing next to her and asked herself if he could really have disregarded her. "But he didn't…" she spoke out for his defense, "he and Hotaru helped me back there."

"Took him long enough though," Sasuke shot back, smirking. "He was actually plotting on his own until Hatake saved him from an ambush and only then did they try to help you. He would have completely ignored you if it wasn't for such turn of events."

"… I'm sorry," the boy whispered to the ground. He could not deny the man's words struck home. He _did_ ignore his Momo's crying and, perhaps in the back of his mind, he selfishly wanted to come out on top.

"What are you sorry for?" the jounin said, "Apologies won't be of any use when someone is dead."

Hajime flinched visibly, his hands clenched and shaking. And Momo, she did actually felt hurt.

"Listen to me carefully." Sasuke manifestly drew their eyes to him and opened their ears to every word he spoke. "One of the gravest errors a shinobi could possibly do in his lifetime… is abandonment. Yes, Akimichi, even you are not in the clear of this fault. None of you are any less innocent because in working in a team, you should always stick with the team. If the majority chooses to back off, you follow. You do not go ahead of way nor do you leave them behind because you got a little scared." The shinobi purposely shifted his head from Momo to Hajime then at Hotaru, giving each a meaningful glare. "This is the test's primary objective: teamwork."

"Teamwork?" Momo repeated.

"Yes, teamwork. You can never be too great, you can never be too powerful but remember this… you never turn your back on your teammates and you never leave them behind."

Tensed seconds ticked by and no one said anything. Another pleasant wind passed through and close by a crow cawed.

The Uchiha's short lecture was sinking in deep. He did not need to say anymore, he turned to leave. "You're cleaning this up. 7:30 tomorrow," he said, walking away.

Akimichi was about to open her trap in protest again but the Sharingan-master held out a finger to stop her.

"And _that_ will count as your first mission as Team 9," he added before disappearing in a flash. With his exit came the popping sound of dispelled snake summons—the still living ones anyway.

Akimichi Momo's jaw hung wide open. She was having a longer time absorbing the jounin's words.

"_Wait_—what?" she asked belatedly, "I don't get it? Did I hear him right or did he just say what I think he just said?"

"Sasuke-sensei had just given us… a major reproach," Hotaru answered slowly, choosing her words wit care, "and then he told us we have a mission tomorrow." Her green eyes, the only visible part of her face, were wide with disbelief.

"I heard what he said," the redhead snipped, "but what did he mean b-by 'our first mission as Team 9'?"

"You asked…" Hotaru shrugged.

"It's just as he said it, Akimichi," the brown-haired boy spoke, still staring at the spot where Sasuke-sensei stood a moment ago. "Uchiha-san had just… passed us."

"But I thought he was just going to…" Momo said, "But with all the negative things he told us…"

"I'm just as shocked as you are."

There was a pause between them. Was this a dream? They all asked themselves.

"W-we have a mission tomorrow," Momo repeated, voice trembling, "Wow… we _actually_ have a mission tomorrow." She turned an expectant look at Hajime, wanting to be assured. She only wanted to make sure this wasn't just a dream.

Hajime could only give her a nod and a small smile. His eyes trailed back to the torn down fence. It was going to be their mission to fix it. As a genin squad…

"We passed!" Momo suddenly cried out, grabbing Hajime by his jacket, "he passed us so that means we're genin… because only real genin get missions. He wouldn't have given us a mission if we weren't, right? _Right_?" She was holding Hajime tightly by the collar. He dark violet eyes held a bit of hysteria.

"R-right." Hajime affirmed.

She let him go. "Right…" she repeated, heaving a long breathe of air. "I just _really_ needed to hear that." Then two fat tears fell from her eyes.

Hajime was taken aback. "Akimichi…?"

But the mention of her name only brought more tears. "I just g-got something in my eyes," she said, but already sobbing.

Momo faced the other way, embarrassed by her own sudden and strange behavior, while furiously rubbed her flowing eyes on her sleeve with a few mumbled curses. She couldn't help herself. She was physically exhausted, dirty and hungry. They've just been through hell and the jounin had been very callous to them. Everything that day had been so distressing that her body just had to let it all out. She did not understand, she was confused. But the more she fought it, the more her throat hurt.

She was genin now. Officially she was a ninja of the Village Hidden in Leaves. She made it through when people had been mocking, trying to discourage her for so long. Now she was one step closer into fulfilling a promise. Just a little more time, she could be a little stronger and she'd be chunin then a jounin eventually. And she will be great, the greatest even…

Hajime stood as still as a rock, staring at the cherry-haired girl with wide eyes.

"She's crying, nii-chan," a voice whispered.

The boy looked behind him only to find Hotaru, fallen flat on her back, had been listening to them all along. She was looking at the pair with half-opened eyes, a smile playing on the corners of her masked cheeks.

"I think it's pretty obvious she's crying," he whispered back. People had been pointing out the obvious the entire day; it was beginning to irritate him.

"Well? What are you waiting for?"

"Am I supposed to do something?"

"Like giving her a hug might be good…" Hotaru suggested.

Hajime was just looking utterly lost however.

"Or you could just… give her a pat on the back," the younger girl added an alternative, "That might calm her down."

Reluctantly, Hajime raised his hand and placed it on Momo's trembling shoulder. "I said I'm all right!" the girl snapped, eyes puffy and red with her nose running.

"Well, I really don't like to point this out… but you're crying."

"Obviously. Haven't seen a girl cry before?"

The boy shrugged. "It's not the reaction I was expecting."

"What? You want me to jump for joy like some idiot? Whoopee!"

The boy raised his shoulders again, extricating his hand from the girl's and replacing it behind his head.

But she smiled nevertheless, "Idiot…" Then she broke into chuckles.

Hajime was left wholly baffled once more. He couldn't help but assume Akimichi Momo was a twelve-year-old lunatic. He turned to Hotaru for help.

"Told you nee-chan would be okay," she said, beaming that made her droopy eyes curve up.

"…I guess." But it was a bit too much though.

"And Hajime…" Momo added, giving him the 'V for victory' sign, "You're not going to wear fishnets after all!" Then she began a weird dance, ignoring two pairs of eyes gawking openly at her.

"We definitely have to watch-out for this one." Hotaru commented dryly of which Hajime nodded, agreeing.

_(to be continued...)_


End file.
